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My Summer with the Texas Defender Service
With support from the MSJC, Alysian Thomas spent the summer of 2010 as an intern with the Texas Defender Service. “This was a very humbling experience that I will take with me throughout my life,” she wrote. “It also gave me insight on how the Death Penalty is truly unjust.” Find her Reflection under Death Penalty Files.
Annual Meeting Held in Conjunction with "A Seamless Garment Dialogue"
Because the Issue Team regards opposition to the death penalty in the context of the consistent life ethic, the Team held its annual meeting in conjunction with the MSJC workshop, "A Seamless Garment Dialogue," on the weekend of March 5-7 in Baltimore. Two new members joined, Lauren Olson, a Marianist Volunteer in St. Louis, and Dan Perry, a University of Dayton law student and recipient of the Marianist Anti Death Penalty Summer 2009 Internship. Dan spent his internship with the Office of the Ohio Public Defender. The Team hopes to continue offering internships linking young adults in our Marianist law schools with internships in state public defender agencies. This will give them an opportunity to integrate the social justice teaching of the church with their practice of law. We continue to connect with state agencies involved in anti death penalty efforts in the five states in which we minister in the U.S. and to communicate with the Marianist family on important pending issues. Our collaboration with the LIFE program in providing materials for their moderator’s workshop and social justice component of the LIFE program has provided a helpful educational connection for those in high school. The LIFE program will continue another year of the anti death penalty issue, using a simulation style as their teaching model. This year our hope is for Issue Team members to attend the moderator days. Anyone wishing to join our Team's efforts is invited to contact any current member or Jim Vogt, MSJC Director, at jimvogt2@yahoo.com.
MSJC Co-sponsors the Annual Fast and Vigil
The Annual Fast and Vigil to abolish the death penalty was recently conducted at the US Supreme Court. Once again, the MSJC was joined by dozens of other organizations and individuals as co-sponsors. This is the fourteenth year in a row that the Abolitionist Action Committee held this event, spanning the dates between two landmark Supreme Court decisions: Furman v. Georgia (June 29, 1972) in which the Court struck down all laws allowing executions in the U.S.; and Gregg v. Georgia (July 2, 1976) in which the Court upheld laws written in various states to reinstate the death penalty in the wake of the Furman decision four years earlier. Read more about the Fast and Vigil at http://www.abolition.org/starvin14/
Issue Team Holds Annual Meeting
Over the March 31 – April 1 weekend the Issue Team held its 2007 Annual Meeting in Dayton, OH. The highlight was a public meeting on Saturday evening with local members of the Family of Mary and others interested in putting an end to the use of the death penalty. Guest speakers included Gary Beeman, who was exonerated from death row; Sr. Alice Gerdeman, Chair of Ohioans to Stop Executions; and Carol Ann Parcel from Families That Matter, a support group for the families of death row inmates. More details about the weekend will be available soon.
MSJC Launches Campaign to Support State Moratoriums
At the recent Assembly of the Marianist Lay Network of North America the Issue Team’s Campaign to Support State Moratoriums was introduced. Support was very positive about the idea of lay and religious communities discussing/discerning and endorsing moratorium resolutions, with a focus on the five states being targeted: California, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. Resources in support of the Campaign – copies of the US Bishops’ statement, background information and the new anti-DP Prayer Card prepared by the Team, and sample state-specific resolutions – were well-received and concise enough for easy use. The Team provided the “Dead Man Walking”/DP Group Discussion Guide for participants as well – which they believed would offer great format ideas for discussions in faith-sharing communities. Our thanks to the Texas Moratorium Network for their collaboration and assistance. Sample Resolutions and additional information can be downloaded from the Moratorium Resources folder by clicking here .
Death Penalty Issue Team Meets in Baltimore
At its 2006 Annual Meeting, held on May 5th, 6th and 7th, the Issue Team decided to focus its energies in the coming year to the Moratorium Campaigns in five states, California, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. More information and resources will be available on this Web site in the coming weeks. On Saturday morning, May 6th, the Issue Team members were part of a rally held to kickoff a three-day anti-death penalty march from Baltimore to the state capital in Annapolis.
Issue Team Meeting
February 18-20, 2005
Baltimore, MD ~ Roland Avenue Marianist Community
The Death Penalty Issue Team met Friday, February 18 – Sunday, February 20 at the Roland Avenue Marianist Community in Baltimore. A major focus of the meeting was on the “Consistent Ethic of Life,” proposed by the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin in the early 1980’s. The team discussed the pros and cons of expanding their focus to include other life issues (i.e. Abortion, Euthanasia, Stem-cell research). Ultimately they decided to remain focused on the death penalty issue and encouraged the MSJC steering committee to do more work with the “Consistent Ethic of Life,” for it embraces all of our issue teams efforts.
The team also made a commitment to sponsor a student internship with the Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing and the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty for the months of June and July, 2005 in Austin, Texas. The team will also be promoting (vide supra ) the 12th Annual Vigil and Fast in front of the US Supreme Court this summer June 29-July 2, marking the two major Supreme Court cases that ruled the death penalty unconstitutional and then four years and four days later reinstated the death penalty in the US.
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