September 2000 Call to Action News
CTAers and many bishops are allies in opposing death penalty
Opposition to capital punishment is an issue on which growing numbers of Catholic bishops and regional CTAs are in agreement. U.S. Bishops’ conference staff told CTA News over 150 statements or pastorals have now been issued by individual bishops or state Catholic conferences. Locally, these positions are being promoted by CTAers. Some examples:
Indiana - CTAers in Bloomington worked on a conference last fall, funded by the Indianapolis archdiocese, where a statewide coalition against the death penalty was established. This July a video funded by Our Sunday Visitor was shown at Mass in every Indiana parish.
Illinois - Fellowship of Southern Ill. Laity (FOSIL), a CTA affiliate, has a grant from the Belleville diocese for death penalty workshops in the Catholic high schools. FOSIL's Lena Woltering twice has delivered testimony for Belleville, Ill. Bishop Wilton Gregory at statewide press conferences.
California - CTA West Coast Conference at San Jose State drew over 300. It included an interfaith panel on the death penalty. Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles is urging all parishes to endorse Moratorium 2000, an international effort led by Sr. Helen Préjean that will deliver several million signatures to the U.N. in December. Sr. Helen will speak Friday, Nov. 3 at the CTA National Conference.
More than half of the 38 death penalty states are considering a moratorium or an outright ban on executions. Yet presidential candidates and the polls support capital punishment, and 3,700 prisoners are on death row in the U.S.
Get involved through these websites:
Moratorium 2000 - www.moratorium2000.org
Religious Organizing against the Death Penalty - www.envisioning.org
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