CMN Hosts the 2024 Justice Reimagined Awards & Celebration
Hundreds of dedicated advocates and inspirational visionaries joined Catholic Mobilizing Network at the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See for the third Justice Reimagined Awards & Celebration on October 10, 2024, World Day Against the Death Penalty. The event marked the organization’s 15th anniversary, and honored committed witnesses to its mission.
Photo Gallery: Click here to explore pictures from the event.
The “Reimagining Justice Award” was presented to Witness to Innocence (WTI), an organization of, by, and for death row exonerees fighting to end the death penalty. Herman Lindsey, WTI executive director, received the award on behalf of the organization.
The “Archbishop Fiorenza Dignity & Life Award,” was given to Dale Recinella, an author and longtime prison minister for the men on Florida’s death row. The award honors the memory of Most Rev. Joseph A. Fiorenza, archbishop emeritus of Galveston-Houston. A dear friend of CMN’s and the organization’s first episcopal advisor, Archbishop Fiorenza initiated the 2005 Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty while serving as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In his welcoming remarks, His Eminence Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, shared words of greeting from the Holy Father himself:
“[The Holy Father] hopes that your efforts will continue to encourage all in the nation to recognize the inadequacy of capital punishment from moral as well as penal justice perspectives, and to support opportunities for reform and conversion for those convicted of crimes. He is confident that in this way, the innate and fundamental dignity of all human beings will be recognized and respected. To all gathered for this event, the Holy Father invokes an abundance of Almighty God’s blessings.“
Similar gratitude was shared by Most Rev. Borys Gudziak, the Metropolitan-Archbishop of Philadelphia of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the chairman of the Committee for Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). He said, “Thank you for the work you have done. Thank you for the work you will continue to do. Your work is a great source of hope in building a culture of life. May God bless you in this holy endeavor. May we redouble our efforts in the next 15 years.”
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network concluded the evening by inviting all in attendance to consider how we move forward together in a way that captures the hopeful vision for the future that was palpable in the room.
That way forward, she said, includes fortifying our national network and committing to sustained connection and collaboration. It includes engaging the next generation of Catholics who play a pivotal role in advancing death penalty abolition and mainstreaming restorative justice approaches. And it includes building up storytellers and messengers who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system, because it is their courageous voices that change hearts and minds.
“Tonight and in the years to come, may God bless our efforts to reimagine the kind of justice that is worthy of the dignity God has bestowed on us,” Vaillancourt Murphy prayed.
