McVeigh took last rites before execution
"It means that we stand before God, ... and ask for Your forgiveness ... Save me and lead me to eternal life."
June 12, 2001 Posted: 10:17 a.m. EDT (1417 GMT)
TERRE HAUTE, Indiana (CNN) -- Strapped to a gurney, awaiting the lethal injection Monday that would punish him for the Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh asked to see a priest.
Bureau of Prisons officials said McVeigh, a self-described agnostic, received the Catholic sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick by an unidentified prison chaplain.
"McVeigh did see last rites which were provided by a BOP chaplain," said Jeff Grondolsky, a spokesman with the Bureau of Prisons.
Part of the sacrament includes confession and an absolution of sins.
Did McVeigh confess to the priest?
"I think it speaks for itself," McVeigh attorney Robert Nigh said.
McVeigh, who made no final statement before his execution, was offered a priest by Terre Haute Federal Prison Warden Harley Lappin. McVeigh said he would consider the offer.
After a 15-minute meeting with Nigh, McVeigh agreed to see the priest and take the final sacraments of the Catholic faith.
McVeigh was baptized in the Catholic Church as a boy, but had stopped practicing and recently described himself as agnostic.
McVeigh biographer Lou Michel spoke to McVeigh's father, Bill McVeigh, after the execution.
"He was glad to hear that Tim had taken last rites and that maybe religion had hit him in the last few hours," Michel said.
The rites were performed before curtains were opened to allow witnesses to observe the execution.
Father Ron Ashmore of St. Margaret Mary Church in Terre Haute said he was "glad" McVeigh asked for last rites. Ashmore met McVeigh while doing work with the prison before the current chaplain was hired.
"It means that we stand before God," Ashmore said, "and ask for Your forgiveness ... Save me and lead me to eternal life." He said it wouldn't "have surprised me" if McVeigh had not asked for the sacrament, but "I'm sure he struggled with the evil that he did."
full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/11/mcveigh.03/index.html
