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To: Clergy, school principals and staff, parish communicators, directors of Faith Formation, campus ministers, social action ministers, respect life ministers
From: Jayna Hoffacker, associate director of Justice and Peace Ministries; Office of Life, Dignity and Justice
World Day Against the Death Penalty is observed on October 10, during Respect Life Month. We encourage everyone to honor this annual reminder of our call to respect human life and dignity by spending time this Respect Life Month engaging in education, prayer and advocacy to end capital punishment.
Respect Life Month Toolkit
Catholic Mobilizing Network offers a toolkit for communities and individuals to engage during Respect Life Month with easy-to-use resources designed to assist Catholics as we work toward a culture of life and an end to capital punishment. Click here for the Respect Life Month Toolkit.
Prayer
We encourage schools and parishes to consider including prayers for an end to capital punishment in your communal liturgies. There are also prayer service templates included in the toolkit linked above should you wish to host a service for your community.
The archdiocese will offer a prayer service for World Day Against the Death Penalty the weekend of October 10. We will stream the service on the archdiocesan Facebook page. More information will be available soon.
Advocacy
There are two petitions we urge you to sign. The first is directed to our Georgia state assembly, asking the Georgia House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee to hold a hearing on House Bill 485. This bill would repeal the death penalty in Georgia and replace it with life without parole. Click here to sign the petition to end the death penalty in Georgia.
The second petition, sponsored by Catholic Mobilizing Network, asks President Biden to prioritize the abolition of the federal death penalty. Click here to sign the petition to end the federal death penalty.
Georgia Catholics Against the Death Penalty
Finally, we encourage you to visit http://www.gacadp.org to learn how you can get involved in the work of ending the death penalty here in Georgia and around the world. Please consider signing up for the mailing list and/or following the page on Facebook.
For more information or questions, please contact me at jhoffacker@archatl.com.