By Savanna Kearney

With the recent news of the U.S. Justice Department amending execution protocols to include more cruel and outdated methods for execution, the annual Cities for Life rally couldn’t have come at a better time.

Cities for Life is an international movement that was started by Sant’Egidio, a Rome-based group, in the year 2002, whose goal is to establish a universal moratorium on capital punishment worldwide.

The Diocese of St. Augustine joined 2,100 cities worldwide on Monday in rallying against capital punishment, ringing their church bells in solidarity, and lighting candles to represent the men and women on death row.

This is the 6^th year the diocese has participated in Cities for Life, this year hosted at St. Joseph Catholic Church’s Cody Enrichment Center in Mandarin. The event happens every year on Nov. 30, which commemorates the first abolishment of the death penalty in a European state, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1786. This year’s theme was “No Justice without Life.”

Deacon Corky Hecht, director of prison ministry for the diocese, kicked off the event, saying, “we hope that by [hosting this event], we’ll see a higher respect for human rights and for more civil reform for justice.”

Those in attendance lit 350 candles, representing the 346 men and 3 women on death row and one special candle was lit to remember and honor all the victims of their capital crimes and their families.

“It is important that we not forget them and scars that they bear when we are ministering to the people on death row and trying to end capital punishment,” said Deacon Corky.

Bishop Felipe Estévez, who recently published his pastoral letter titled Standing Up for the Dignity of All Human Life: A Pastoral Letter on Capital Punishment in Florida, was the first speaker of the night. He shared his experience getting involved in the anti-death penalty movement, saying that he was ashamed to admit that it wasn’t until his sixth year as a priest that he even learned about the issue of capital punishment.

“But I have since then been committed to eliminating the death penalty in Florida and recognizing that only God is the author of life.”

Bishop Estévez shared the contents of his pastoral letter, citing the influence of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. John Paul II on creating a culture of life.

Click here to read the bishop’s pastoral letter.

Karen Gottlieb, a professor and co-director of the Florida Center for Capital Representation at Florida International University, followed the bishop’s talk.

She shared several statistics that highlighted the need for the end to capital punishment. For example, half of the states in the U.S. have already abolished the death penalty, and almost half of death row inmates in the country reside in three states: Florida being one of them.

Gottlieb then dispelled a few commonly believed myths about the death penalty. She said that there is no evidence that capital punishment keeps us safer or that it acts as a deterrent for people to commit crimes. Contrary to common belief, the death penalty is not cheaper than sentencing someone to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In fact, it costs Florida $5 million more to sentence someone to death than it does to give them a life sentence. According to Gottlieb, the death penalty is racially biased, and, in Florida, one innocent person is exonerated and released for every three prisoners executed.

Dr. Joseph Thornton was the last guest speaker at Cities for Life. He is the associate chief of staff for mental health services at the North Florida and South Georgia Veterans Health System, who worked as a physician and psychiatrist on Florida’s death row. He spoke briefly about the inhumanity of capital punishment before answering questions from the audience.

“The bottom line for me as I talk with people about the death penalty is five things,” he said. “The death penalty is unnecessary, the death penalty is unjust, the death penalty is untrue, the death penalty is unfixable, and the death penalty is unconscionable.”

The event ended with a closing prayer from special guest Rev. Dr. Allison DeFoor from the Episcopalian Diocese of Florida.

To learn more about the history of Cities for Life, and the speakers from the event, read pgs. 24-25 of the November/December issue of the St. Augustine Catholic magazine. To watch the livestreamed video of Cities for Life, visit our Youtube page.

Photos by St. Augustine Catholic/Rudy Foschi.

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