CCVI Sisters: 20 Years Against the Death Penalty

Every October 10th is an important day in the human rights calendar; it is the world day against the death penalty.  This day provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the death penalty, considered the most extreme denial of human rights.

Our Congregation, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, first published our opposition to the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances on June 8, 1998.

Our congregational commitment to promote and protect human dignity compels us to denounce the death penalty. We believe that capital punishment is inconsistent with the Christian belief in the sacredness of human life.

The death penalty is violence condoned by the state that contributes to the climate of violence and is not an effective impediment to crime.

This corporate stance against the death penalty testifies to the mission of the congregation. and it allows us to add our voice to that of other religious groups of all denominations that have expressed their public opposition to the death penalty.

It is worth mentioning that Pope Francis has authorized a change in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty and announced it during the October 2017 meeting that commemorated the 25th anniversary of the last Catechism. "However serious the crime, the death penalty is inadmissible because it threatens the inviolability and dignity of the person."

The new wording includes this request of the Pope and ensures that, from now on, the Church "commits with determination to the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world."

We will continue to pray and act against the Death Penalty because taking a life is never a solution to reduce crime or punish offenders.

  

Faith & Action First Fridays

Have you signed up for Faith & Action First Fridays yet? Don't miss out this Friday, June 1st and each first Friday following. Sign up today to receive one email each month with the most impactful information to help you bring Christ’s mercy to the broken system of capital punishment.

Your voice is critical in calling for life. Each First Friday, one email will arrive in your inbox with a single legislative action, a current call for clemency, a timely liturgical resource, and a key educational tool to enable you to make a difference. Ending the death penalty is within reach!

Faith & Action First Fridays draws on a centuries-old Catholic tradition. First Friday devotions recognize that people deeply desire to be drawn closer to and learn from the Sacred Heart of Christ, which is full of love and mercy for humanity. 

Each first Friday, CMN will feature the most timely and impactful tools you need to educate, advocate, and pray to end the death penalty and promote restorative justice.

Sign up today to receive one email on the First Friday of each month with ways to join your voice with others calling for life! 

In solidarity,
Catholic Mobilizing Network

Sisters Share Murdered Nun's Service

By Yael Garcia-Torrescano LOGOS STAFF WRITER   (From the Logos, September 2017. Used with permission)

The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word remembered a sister's life of service on the 30th anniversary of her murder Sept. 27.

Students in the Social Justice Leadership course – primarily Cardinal Community Leaders – along with others, gathered in the Chapel of the Incarnate Word for the observance titled “Reflection on the Murder of Sister Patricia Ann Kelley: Standing Against the Death Penalty.”

Kelley was raped and strangled to death, according to news accounts of her murder in St. Louis.  She was a graduate of Incarnate Word Academy in Bel Nor, MO, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in religion from then- Incarnate Word College (now the University).

Kelley’s legacy included being regarded as an exemplary teacher, service as the Sisters’ vocation counselor, time spent as a probation officer, and a volunteer organizer.

In 1981, Kelley secured a grant to start the Dollar-Help and Energycare project in St. Louis which aimed to help low- and fixed-income elderly who couldn’t afford to pay their utility bills. When funding was ended after two years, she worked to make Energycare an independent, nonprofit organization, serving as its executive director.

Between 1983 and 1987, Laclede Gas helped Kelley raise $1.5 million for the Dollar- Help project. In 1984, Kelley was the first woman to be awarded with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat’s Humanitarian Award, and later even called the “Mother Theresa of St. Louis.”

Kelley was found murdered in her Energycare office on Sept. 28, 1987. Nearly a year went by before St. Louis charged Jerry Lee Little, who was later convicted in Kelley’s death as well as three other women.

Sister Martha Ann Kirk, a longtime religious studies professor at UIW, shared memories of Kelley when both were students here, living on campus.

“I loved to be around her because she was fun,” Kirk said. “She would make you laugh! She would just dive-in into doing things, and you would have a good time with her.”

On a typical Sunday afternoon, Kirk recalled Kelley would ask, “ ‘Who wants to come with me?’ We need to be taking some joy to the soldiers that are in the hospital (referring to Brooke Army Medical Center).”

Kelley’s brother wanted Little executed but the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word wanted imprisonment as the maximum penalty because he was dangerous. Not only did the order believe Little’s family had suffered enough but they believed the death penalty wasn’t going to make things better.

The late Sister Dorothy “Dot” Ettling, then-congregational leader of the order, said: “Such violence will never be conquered by a retaliation of violence in our own hearts.”

Kirk, a member of the Incarnate Word Sisters Justice and Peace Committee, said she remembers lobbying against the death penalty, because the sisters believed in the dignity of the human life.  “Our faith teaches us that every human life has dignity and the death penalty disrespects the dignity of creatures that God has made,” Kirk said. 

Work to End the Death Penalty for #RespectLifeMonth

"The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty."

- Pope Francis, September 24, 2015

In the two years since Pope Francis's plea, we have made great strides towards ending the death penalty. Let's continue this important work to end the death penalty this October. 

With Respect Life Month now here, Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN) has created a Respect Life Month Toolkit to enable you to educate, advocate, and pray to end the death penalty.

Below we've also highlighted three things you can do right now to raise your voice for life this October.

Take Action to Stop an Execution: There are five executions scheduled this month. Raise your voice now through CMN's easy one-click letters and insist the dignity of all life be respected. Sign-up for CMN's Mercy in Action and take meaningful actions that are making a difference.  

Educate, Advocate, and Pray: Sign CMN's National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty and encourage other's to sign. Join advocates and leaders like Sr. Helen Prejean, Fr. Jim Martin SJ, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, and many more who have already taken the Pledge! 

Advocate for ALL Life in your Parish: CMN has prepared a Respect Life Month Toolkit filled with new and exciting materials including a new vigil and prayer service. Put these free, downloadable tools to use.  

Thank you for raising your voice and advocating for the dignity of ALL life!  

Activists Arrested at U.S. Supreme Court Calling for an End to the Death Penalty

By The Abolitionist Action Committee, January 17, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Forty years after the first execution of Gary Gilmore under contemporary laws, 18 anti-death penalty activists were arrested at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.  The group unfurled a 30-foot-long banner that read “STOP EXECUTIONS!” on the steps of the Court.  On the sidewalk, a crowd of over 80 supporters observed the action, carrying 40 posters (1 for each year) with the names of the other 1442 men and women executed since 1977. They also carried roses in two colors, a reminder that they are remembering both families of the murdered and families of the executed as they stand together saying, as one banner did, “We Remember the Victims, But Not With More Killing.”  

The group included several murder victim family members, a death row exoneree, family members of the incarcerated, pastors and religious leaders, and national leaders in the death penalty abolition movement. It was the largest act of civil disobedience against the death penalty in modern history.

One of the participants who was arrested was Randy Gardner, whose brother, like Gilmore, was executed in Utah by firing squad.

"My Brother Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed in 2010 by the same state and by the same method as Gilmore," Gardner stated.  "I believed then, and I still believe now, that the death penalty is morally wrong. I never condoned what my brother did, but when the state executes someone, they create yet another family that is damaged and grieving. We don’t have to kill to be safe from dangerous criminals and hold them accountable. It is time to abolish the death penalty."   

Shane Claiborne, influential Christian author and activist, speaking of the significance of religious leaders, said this:  “Sadly, the death penalty has succeeded in America not in spite of Christians but because of us.  Over 80% of executions in the past 40 years have been in the Bible Belt.  As a Christian, that is especially troubling because one of the tenants of our faith is this: No one is beyond redemption.  Much of the Bible was written by murderers who were given a second chance. Moses. David. Paul.  The Bible would be much shorter without grace.  So it was a beautiful thing to stand alongside my fellow clergy and faith leaders…  And, if you go to jail, it’s good to have a nun and a priest next to you.  As we look at history, we are reminded that we’ve got good company among the holy troublemakers who have gone to jail for justice.  Abortion is not the only pro-life issue.”

Claiborne continues: “When we try to kill those who kill, we mirror, and legitimize, the cycle of violence.  We can deal with violent crime without resorting to the violence we want to rid the world of.  As faith leaders and clergy, we stand together, with families of the murdered and families of the executed, and say NO to all killing.  Violence is the disease, not the cure.”  

Scott Langley, a death penalty abolition organizer from New York, said “The national tide has turned against the death penalty with more and more states, counties, and juries refusing to continue this barbaric practice. We acted today to call on this Court to recognize that standards of decency and human rights have evolved to the point that this has to end now.”

Those arrested were Peter Armstrong (Washington, DC), Leroy Barber (Portland, OR), Abraham J. Bonowitz (Columbus, OH), SueZann Bosler (Miami, FL), Shawn Casselberry (Chicago, IL), Shane Claiborne (Philadelphia, PA), John Dear (Santa Fe, NM), Randy Gardner (Taylorsville, UT), Lisa Sharon Harper (Washington, DC), Derrick Jamison (Cincinnati, OH), Art Laffin (Washington, DC), Scott Langley (Ghent, NY), Michael McBride (Oakland, CA), Tom Muther (Topeka, KS), Doug Pagitt (Minneapolis, MN), Jack Payden-Travers (Lynchburg, VA), Sam R. Sheppard (Oakland, CA), and Kelton Tupper (Cheverly, MD).

Background:  Forty years ago, on January 17, 1977, the State of Utah shot to death Gary Gilmore, who "volunteered" to be killed in revenge for his murder of Ben Bushnell and Max Jenson.  This state-assisted suicide was the first execution under the Supreme Court’s upholding of the death penalty in 1976.  Since then, there have been 1442 more executions, with another scheduled on January 18 in Virginia. Nearly 3,000 prisoners are currently on death rows in 31 states.

The protest is organized by the Abolitionist Action Committee (AAC), an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action.  The AAC also organizes a four day fast and vigil on the Supreme Court sidewalk every June 29 through July 2, and all are invited to participate.

Organizations endorsing/supporting this action include

Abolitionist Action Committee

Campaign for Nonviolence

Catholic Mobilizing Network

Center for Action and Contemplation

Consistent Life Network

Embrey Human Rights Program

Evangelicals for Social Action

Faith in Public Life

Journey of Hope… From Violence to Healing

National Council of Churches

OPEN

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty

PICO Network LIVE FREE Campaign

RAW Tools

Red Letter Christians

Repairers of the Breach

Sojourners

We Stand With Love

Witness to Innocence

Missouri and Texas Rank Highest in Executions

October 10th was World Day Against the Death Penalty.  The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word have a Corporate Stance Against the Death Penalty, but there is still much work to be done as the two states in which the Congregation is based in the U.S. are at the top of the list for number of executions carried out per year and per capita.  While Texas has been the long standing leader, this article explains how in 2015 Missouri has replaced them, scheduling almost one execution per month.

We must do more to abolish these unjust, state sponsored killings.  As Sister Helen Prejean, long time activist against the death penalty, reminds us, "Every person is more than the worst thing they have done in their life."  #AbolishTheDeathPenalty

READ MORE HERE