Could Catholics Tip the Balance for Death Penalty Repeal?
New American Media
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca — In a race that polls show could go either way, proponents of the initiative to repeal the death penalty in November are praying that the Catholic Church might make a difference.
While nowhere near as robust as the effort that the Church put into the Proposition 8 campaign against same-sex marriage in 2008, the California Catholic Conference has given Catholics the blessing to join the battle to replace executions with life without the possibility of parole. The official voice of the state’s Catholic bishops on public policy issues endorsed California Proposition 34, the End the Death Penalty Initiative, last September.
Ned Dolesji, the body’s executive director, also recently teamed up with Amanda Cox, mother or a murder victim, former Los Angeles district attorney Gil Garcetti and SAFE California campaign manager Natasha Minsker, who is also and ACLU attorney, to meet with the Sacramento Bee editorial board to state their case for Prop. 34. The Bee recently endorsed the proposition.
“We’re encouraging our pastors to distribute materials for Prop. 34 in English and Spanish, we’ve produced bulletins, public service announcements, sample homilies radio interviews, and videos, says Dolejsi.