The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, New York, is a community of women who dedicate themselves to serving to the people of God in a manner that reflects the spirit of  St. Francis of Assisi.   They respond to the needs of the church by practicing deep, personal, receptive prayer and by offering love and full joy in Christ’s Gospel values.  In the community, they commit themselves to connecting those who are affected by unemployment and underemployment with associates, sponsored ministries, and others who share their life experiences, education, skills, and financial and human resource expertise to help them find fulfilling careers.

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The death penalty is not only legal in Georgia, it is routinely carried out and it is widely supported by public officials and the electorate. In the midst of this reality, the Georgia Catholic Conference speaks consistently against the death penalty, in harmony with our state’s bishops.

Abolition of the death penalty in Georgia must originate at the grassroots before change will occur in the halls of the Capitol — and this type of advocacy requires faith and perseverance at all levels. Nearly two years ago, Deacon Dick Tolcher created Georgia Catholics Against the Death Penalty as a forum to educate Catholics about Catholic teaching on the death penalty and coordinate our efforts throughout the state. The organization enjoys the support of all the bishops of Georgia. On their website you will find a moving statement of welcome and encouragement from Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory.

GACADP works in close collaboration with CMN, incorporating CMN materials and workshops into the important work that it does.

Legislation to abolish or restrict imposition of the death penalty appears in every session but rarely generates even a committee hearing, let alone positive action. Conversely, legislation supporting the death penalty enjoys favor. Georgia performs executions with lethal injections, but opposition to the death penalty in other parts of the country has limited the availability of the necessary drugs. As an alternative, the state wanted to engage local compounding pharmacies to produce the drugs and, in the most recent session, felt the need to pass legislation making the source of those drugs a “state secret.” Despite our opposition, and that of other groups, the bill (HB 122) has become law.

The Georgia Catholic Conference can address public officials directly and articulate Catholic teaching, but change will only come when the voting public recognizes the injustice of death penalty. In Georgia, the Catholic conference works closely with Georgia Catholics Against the Death Penalty as well as diocesan offices supporting justice and peace, respect life, and faith formation in a collaborative effort to spread the Gospel’s pro-life teaching in all its richness.

This article first appeared in CMN’s May 2013 Newsletter.

Our Sunday Visitor serves the Church not only with its products and services, but also by returning all of its net earnings to the Catholic community.  Through the Our Sunday Visitor Institute, they fund Catholic projects throughout the United States, particularly those that seek to address religious illiteracy, contribute to the evangelization of the culture, link faith and morality, especially to young people, and explain and promote the dignity of the human person.

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Founded in 1996, Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP) is a statewide coalition of organizations and individuals working to end the death penalty, build power in communities targeted by the criminal justice system, protect the rights and dignity of those on death row and their families, and transform Georgia’s broken public safety system. In our 17 years we’ve successfully passed resolutions in three Georgia cities in opposition to the death penalty, blocked legislation (several times) at the state level that would have allowed non-unanimous juries, and restored contact visits for lawyers, clergy and families for folks on the row among other victories. For much of the last decade we worked tirelessly to free Troy Davis and to expose the systemic problems in his case. The campaign to stop his execution compelled tens of thousands of Georgians to take action and sparked an international movement. This movement exposed the unfairness, racial disparities and unethical law enforcement practices inherent in Georgia’s current system.

In the 18 months since Troy’s death, GFADP’s membership continues to grieve but has worked hard to rebuild and re-energize those who came out for Troy. In January 2012, GFADP hosted a Death Penalty Summit at the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church (Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church), which brought together more than 200 people. In September 2012, in Davis’s hometown of Savannah, we came together on the anniversary of his execution. “From Troy to Trayvon: Empowering Communities to Change Criminal Justice Policies” brought together community members, advocates and organizers from New Orleans to New York to reflect on the previous year and to re-imagine the future of our movement, especially for those working in the South.

Currently, GFADP is working to pass legislation that changes the burden of proof standard for defendants with intellectual disability in capital cases. Georgia is the only state in the nation that sets the highest burden and legal experts say is nearly impossible to prove. This standard has come under new scrutiny as a result of the impending execution of Warren Hill, an intellectually disabled man whose case has again brought international scrutiny and shame on Georgia’s criminal justice practices.

For more information on GFADP please visit our website.

This article first appeared in CMN’s May 2013 Newsletter.

By Greg Callaghan, Dead Man Walking Play Project Coordinator
- May 15, 2013 -

The Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project is wrapping up an exciting 9th season. Congratulations to the cast and crew of Dead Man Walking at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, and Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. Brother Martin School students had the opportunity to visit Angola Prison, the setting of Dead Man Walking, in a tour arranged as part of the school’s long-standing Culture of Life initiative, which includes an annual “Culture of Life Day.” One student reflected on her experience as an actor in the play, saying “What’s so powerful about this play is that it shows us the spectrum of beliefs. … Sister Helen Prejean takes us on a journey. She’s the witness to all points of view. And, it’s not just the death penalty. It’s grief, racism, and human dignity.”

Dead Man Walking was produced in more than eight states this school year. Since the launch of the play project in 2004, six states have abolished the death penalty. Performed in each of those states, the play has served as a powerful educational tool as public support for the death penalty has shifted. If you know of a high school or college that may want to participate in the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project for the 2013-2014 school year, contact me by e-mail or by phone at (415) 469-9149.

This article first appeared in CMN’s May 2013 Newsletter.

With the stroke of Governor O’Malley’s pen, Maryland today became the sixth state in as many years to end the death penalty. Maryland’s effort is the latest success in a growing national movement recognizing that a badly broken system of retribution is not the answer to violent crime, nor is it what victims’ families want. Bringing the death penalty to an end in Maryland was made possible through the efforts of thousands, including the work of Catholics in the state, led by the Catholic Conference of Maryland and Archbishop William Lori. These episcopal leaders were assisted in these efforts by the work of the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty, Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, Equal Justice USA, and many others.

Ending Maryland’s death penalty was a particularly personal goal for CMN’s Vicki Scheiber, who lost her daughter, Shannon – who was raised in Maryland – to a brutal murder in 2002. Vicki has worked tirelessly to see her home state end the use of the death penalty, speaking at numerous community and parish events, meeting with key legislators, and speaking at rallies.

CMN continues to work with Catholic and other organizations in key states throughout the country to empower and educate Catholics and other people of good will on this important pro-life issue.

We celebrate the hard work that so many activists and supporters, including many murder victims’ family members, undertook in order to bring about repeal of the death penalty in Maryland. Vicki Schieber was a founding board member of MVFHR and served on the board of directors through 2012. For the past decade, she has been active in death penalty abolition efforts in Maryland and nationwide. Following the legislative vote that repeals Maryland’s death penalty, Vicki spoke with us to reflect on what the ten years of work have been like for her.

When Vicki Schieber testified before the Maryland Senate ten years ago, she had never been to the state house and never spoken before a group of lawmakers. Explaining that her 23-year-old daughter Shannon had been murdered in 1998, and giving the reasons that she and her husband Sylvester opposed the death penalty, Vicki said, “We have set up several memorials in our daughter’s name. However, I believe the discontinuance of the death penalty in her home state would be the greatest tribute to Shannon’s brief but amazing life.”

Vicki remembers how nervous she was that day and how powerful the experience was. “I had spoken in front of groups before, but talking to legislators was different – knowing what they could do with what they heard, realizing that we could actually get rid of the death penalty as a result. It was a very moving experience, and I realized that my story as the mother of a murder victim was important.”

In the intervening decade, Vicki has told her story in 22 states and to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. She has devoted herself to work with Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, the Catholic Mobilizing Network Against the Death Penalty, and the many othergroups and organizations that have sought her help.

“I thought this would be a great way to honor Shannon,” Vicki says of her work to abolish the death penalty. “That was what I had in mind that we were going to do: try to reach out to people and help them understand what we were going through and why we wanted to abolish the death penalty. I could see that our story moved people and that it was not what they expected to hear. I saw that legislators had to rethink the issue because they wouldn’t expect someone to take this position, opposing the death penalty, after having been through such a horrific experience. So I saw that this would be a way to make a difference.”

A Washington Post article this past February, during the height of the recent repeal effort in Maryland, confirms this. The article includes these quotes: “Schieber has been effective over the years because she is not what lawmakers might expect from the family member of a murder victim, said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), who chairs the Senate committee that has jurisdiction over the legislation” and “’If people who’ve had that happen can get over it and look at this the way she does, then certainly I should be able to, too,’ said [Senator] Young,” who voted in favor of repeal.

Though she has spoken publicly in so many states, Maryland has always held special meaning for Vicki because it’s her home state and the state in which Shannon was born and raised. “The work was relentless,” Vicki says of the repeal effort that spanned so many years, “but it was what I wanted to do.”

Working for repeal hasn’t only meant testifying before lawmakers, for Vicki; she has also spoken many times to high school and college students, sometimes year after year. “I never left the room without saying, ‘Take what you’ve learned today, take this story, and talk to your parents about it, talk to your friends about it.’ I saw it as a process of education. My favorite response is when students say, ‘I never knew that.’ You see them learning something or seeing the issue in a new way.”

Vicki says that throughout this decade of work, being involved with other victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty has been crucial. “That’s my foundation; that’s where it all started: learning what other victims’ family members go through, and having that support system, gave me the courage and strength to keep going on so many days. It’s essential.”

View this article in the MVFHR Newsletter.

This article was featured in CMN’s May 2013 Newsletter.

Since the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN) was first established in 2009, it has been a partner with the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The purpose of CMN is to respond to the challenge of the U.S. Bishops’ Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty as it was articulated their 2005 statement, “A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death.”

Late in the summer of 2008, veteran proponents of death penalty repeal gathered in Washington, D.C., to consider how to engage lay American Catholics in the Bishops’ campaign. Among them were Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, and leaders from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, State Catholic Conferences, the National Coalition, Death Penalty Information Center, Equal Justice USA, murder victims’ organizations, and major national Catholic and secular groups.

As a result of this meeting, CMN was formed to educate Catholics on the Church’s death penalty teaching through State Catholic Conferences, diocesan offices, and other Catholic organizations and institutions. With the involvement of Vicki Schieber, a leader of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, the idea of restorative justice became an integral part of CMN’s work.

The goal of CMN is to work alongside National Coalition affiliate groups and the State Catholic Conference to involve Catholics in faith-based advocacy work. CMN has worked to engage Catholics in the Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois, and California abolition campaigns. The organization customizes some of its educational materials to relate specifically to states where legislative action is taking place – for example, Talking Points on the Death Penalty for Maryland. Many other state-specific talking points are available in Spanish and English on the CMN website.

This article was featured in CMN’s May 2013 Newsletter.

- April 15, 2013 -

March was an extraordinary month of activity in the movement to end the use of the death penalty!

In Delaware, the Senate passed, by an 11-10 margin, SB 19, which ends the death penalty for future capital offenses. The bill next moves to the House Judiciary Committee on April 24. Bishop William Malooly of the Diocese of Wilmington signed the Delaware Repeal Project’s Faith Leaders Sign on Letter, which helped encourage signatures from numerous Catholic priests of the diocese. For more information on Delaware’s efforts visit Delaware Repeal Project’s website.

Nebraska’s bill to end the death penalty, LB543, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously and heads to the full legislature for debate. More information on this effort can be found on the Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty website.

In a hard-won victory, Maryland’s legislature also chose life over death, setting the stage for Governor O’Malley to sign a bill ending the death penalty in that state making Maryland the 18th state to do so overall, and the sixth in six years. More information on this effort can be found at the Maryland Citizens Against State Executions (MD CASE) website.

In Colorado the movement to end the death penalty continues to grow, although the Judiciary Committee of the Colorado House of Representatives did narrowly reject, by a vote of 6-4, a bill which would have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, despite ample and convincing evidence that race often is a factor when juries hand down death sentences, the North Carolina Senate voted last week to repeal its landmark Racial Justice Act. North Carolina was a leader when it passed; now it is swimming against a stream of states that question how fairly the death penalty is applied. The bill, SB 9, goes to the House this month for debate. Please visit North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium’s website for more information.

CMN continues to work in key states to educate Catholics, lifting up our voices in this pro-life movement. Be sure to review our death penalty legislative talking points (in English and Spanish) for key states and contact us if you’d like us to add your state to the list.

This article was first featured in the April 2013 CMN Newsletter.

- April 15, 2013 -

Spring is a busy season for The Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project. Three productions took place during March: Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena, Calif.; St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Texas. Congratulations to all actors, crew and faculty members on three excellent and well-received productions around the country!

April 11-13 and 18-20, St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt., will perform the play as a culmination of a three-part series about the death penalty on campus. Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, visited the school last month, and students attended a second presentation titled “Faculty Perspectives on the Death Penalty.”

Our partnership with the Fetzer Institute continues to thrive, and our project is now featured on Fetzer’s homepage. Students from all four of the aforementioned schools have been asked to journal about how their experience with the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project has informed them about the values of love and forgiveness in our world. The responses have been incredibly rich, and we are proud to share them on our new blog. We hope this blog will be a space for dialogue and discovery for actors, audiences and facilitators of the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project. Please feel free to comment on any of the entries and join in our discussion!

We are currently booking schools to participate in the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project for the 2013-2014 school year. If you know of a high school or college in your community that may be interested in participating in the project, please contact me by e-mail  or by phone at (415) 469-9149.

This article was first featured in the April 2013 CMN Newsletter.