The Catholic Church has long supported alternatives to the death penalty. Each of the last three popes spoke out publicly against capital punishment, acknowledging the ways it violates the inherent dignity of the human person. Download the handout below to learn more about the church’s history of opposition to the death penalty and ways we can…
Nuestra fe Catolica y la pena de muerte.
In November 2018, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released it’s long anticipated pastoral letter against racism – Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love. In conjunction with the 32-page document the USCCB also released a shorter letter highlighting the racial disparities systemically upheld within our country’s criminal justice system: Open Wide…
This one-page handout gives an introductory overview of restorative justice and ways that practices can be applied in various settings. Use copies to complement an educational program or spread the word about restorative justice in your parish and community. Download by clicking the link below.
The United States is an international outlier when it comes to maintaining the death penalty; more than 70% of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice. (Source) But despite its poor record, the U.S. has seen intensifying momentum toward national death penalty abolition in recent years. From state-based repeal efforts to waning public…
As Catholics, we understand that there is a Gospel call toward forgiveness — yet forgiveness is never an obligation, but a creative act of possibility and grace. Together, we can work to dispel common myths about forgiveness and open up new possibilities for reconciliation and healing. Myth #1: Forgiveness means forgetting the past. As theologian Fr. Robert Schreiter writes, “In forgiving,…
The United States is in the midst of a national reckoning on racial injustice, following the brutal killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. Against this backdrop, restorative justice principles and practices can offer healing ways of addressing the deep harms of racial oppression and transforming the broken systems which give them rise. Download…
Over the last decade, Catholic Mobilizing Network’s advocacy toward ending the death penalty has revealed the institutionalized racism and discrimination rampant in the U.S. criminal legal system, which has resulted in the overincarceration of Black and Brown people — particularly on death row. Misuse and abuse of power perpetuate racial injustice and deny human beings…
Catholics have a vital role to play in efforts to abolish the federal death penalty. In the wake of an unprecedented spree of federal executions in 2020-2021 and presented with the first anti-death penalty presidential administration in U.S. history, now is the moment for Catholics to amplify the church’s call for an end to this…
Double your support of CMN’s principled and powerful advocacy to end the death penalty, advance justice, and begin healing.