Cities for Life: A Prayer for an End to the Death Penalty

At the start of Advent and in occasion of the annual Cities for Life initiative, the Sant’Egidio community in Washington, DC will hold a special prayer to call for the end of the death penalty and a discussion following featuring Catholics Mobilizing Network’s Emmjolee Mendoza Waters, Director of the Death Penalty Abolition Program.
The post-prayer discussion will bring together Catholics and other people of faith in the DC area to reflect in an intimate and candid way on the current state of capital punishment in the US, church teaching and our response as people of faith.
The event comes amid a sharp rise in executions in the US, the administration’s push on federal executions, and public scrutiny of executions following the horrific botched execution attempt of Christa Pike. These developments raise urgent questions about human dignity, justice, mercy, and the role of faith communities.
Through short comments by Catholics Mobilizing Network (CMN) and Sant’Egidio, followed by a facilitated discussion and audience Q&A, participants will explore Catholic teaching on the death penalty, hear personal testimonies of death row pen friends, and discuss concrete ways to respond through prayer, advocacy, and action.