Friends in the Marianist Family-

Are you interested in helping to end the death penalty in Missouri and the entire US?  If so, please read on.  We need your help.

The Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC), a joint effort of the Society of Mary, the Marianist Sisters and the Marianist Lay Network of North America, is committed to the abolition of the death penalty.  To do so we have established and support an Anti-Death Penalty Issue Team.  This team follows the path of Mary standing at the cross with her son, a victim of the death penalty.  We join our voices with Pope John Paul II and the US Catholic bishops in prayer, education, reflection and action. We work to end the death penalty in five states in which many Marianists, both lay and religious, live and minister -Texas, Ohio, California, Maryland and Missouri.

But we have a problem in carrying out this mission. 

We currently have no representative on the team from Missouri!

Obviously we need a representative from Missouri.  Issue team members bring a variety of gifts: engaging in local death penalty abolition efforts, writing letters, educating others in the Marianist Family about opportunities to be involved.  The Anti-Death Penalty Issue Team meets once a year to give support to each other in being effective advocates in our local area, to plan for effective action, and to be a collective voice in the Marianist Family to abolish the death penalty.

Would you consider being involved with the issue team?  We need your voice.  Whatever gift you bring you will be contributing toward a Marianist vision of justice.  Or if you are not able to be involved, do you know some other Missourian who might be interested?

If you want to consider getting involved, or know someone else who might be, contact Jim Vogt, MSJC Director, at jimvogt2@yahoo.com, or Sr. Grace Walle, team chair, at gwalle@stmarytx.edu.  Either of us can answer any questions you might have, give you additional information, and help you discern whether this is the right kind of involvement for you.

Please seriously consider our need and request.  You could make a big difference.

Peace-

Grace Walle FMI                                                       Jim Vogt

Chair, Anti-Death Penalty Team                             Director, MSJC