Sister Helen Prejean

President Obama met with the press before his visit with Pope Benedict on July 10. He talked about how he admired Cardinal Bernardine’s “seamless garment” approach to pro-life, that the cardinal included in its scope a wide range of issues: “He was concerned about poverty, he was concerned with how children were treated, he was concerned about the death penalty…”

Now here’s interesting fodder for a conversation with President Obama. For starters: “Aren’t you, too, very, very concerned about the fact that already 135 innocent people have been released from death row? How many will it take before we recognize the failed system? Not to mention the shocking, appalling racist application of the death penalty presently carried out in the Deep South states.”

Do you have any ideas about how we might get a conversation going with President Obama and his wife, Michelle, about this issue? Would you like to help us mount a young people’s letter writing campaign to the White House to end the death penalty in the U.S.?

Think boldly. Organize strategically. Act quickly. Please respond and let me know your thinking!

- Sister Helen

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Here is good news to help further galvanize the Catholic troops who number 67 million strong in the US. Speaking in Mexico, the Pope issued a clear statement against the death penalty:

One cannot insist enough on the fact that the right to life must be recognized fully. [Governments must enact laws and public policies that] take into account the high value that a human being has at every moment of existence. In this regard, I welcome with joy the initiative of Mexico, which in 2005 eliminated its capital punishment legislation, as well as the recent actions some Mexican states have taken to protect human life from its beginning.

Meanwhile, here in the US the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty is doing great work, educating Catholics about the death penalty. This group was launched this year under the leadership of my good friend, Karen Clifton, with a coordinating committee that rocks.

The Catholic Mobilizers welcome new members and volunteers as well as your feedback about their programs. Their website is bristling with useful resources, so I urge you to take a look.

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