A SOBER REMINDER: FIVE TEXAS EXECUTIONS IN NOVEMBER
November 2, 2009
Texas has scheduled five executions in November—and three of these are on consecutive days! That’s the message sent out recently by the Criminal Justice Ministry of Saint Patrick Cathedral under the heading, “A Sober Reminder.”
The public is invited to participate in a half-hour interfaith prayer vigil on the evening of each execution. Vigils are held at 6:00 p.m. at Saint Patrick’s (Arizona and Mesa, El Paso) in solidarity with other faith groups across the state that hold vigils at the same time. In a quiet time that includes music, spoken words, and periods of silent reflection, prayers are offered for persons being executed, their victims, and the families of all, as well as those involved in the executions.
Dates of November executions and vigils are:
Thursday, November 5
Tuesday, November 10
Tuesday, November 17
Wednesday, November 18
Thursday, November 19
The El Paso vigils are sponsored by the Criminal Justice Ministry of Saint Patrick’s parish in collaboration with El Pasoans Against the Death Penalty, an interfaith group which is a chapter of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The parish group, along with similar groups in several other El Paso churches, is affiliated with the Criminal Justice Ministry of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso.
Besides working to educate people about the death penalty, the Criminal Justice Ministries work with crime victims, prisoners, ex-offenders recently released from prison, and their families.
Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, an average of 35 persons have been put to death in the United States each year. 38 percent of those executions have occurred in Texas. Death penalty opponents hope that the widely publicized case of Cameron Todd Willingham will be a turning point. Willingham was convicted in 1992 of setting a fire that killed his three children in 1991 and was executed by the State of Texas in 2004, but there is a strong possibility that he was innocent. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was preparing to investigate reports by experts which say that the fire was not caused by arson, when on September 30 Governor Rick Perry removed three members of the Commission. This caused the investigation to be canceled, but there is hope that it may yet continue.
More information:
Charlie & Patricia Doyle, 915 543-9808
Sister Nancy Hansen, 915 872-8450
(Submitted by Wayne Daniel, 915 532-0527)
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