Last night’s unprecedented event in Houston with seven high-level religious leaders and Sister Helen Prejean was amazing! More than 500 people representing diverse faith traditions RSVPd and attended the event.
Sister Helen and Bishop Janice Huie of the Texas United Methodist Church Conference both noted that getting religious leaders to speak out on the issue of the penalty has been difficult. “The silence has been deafening,” Sister Helen said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle:
Prejean said she hopes the event will be just the beginning of a renewed focus by religious leaders on the death penalty.
“It’s controversial, and it’s hard to pick up as a religious leader,” she said. “The hope is that those who stand publicly will also give a much more serious effort to educating the people in the pews.”
Read all about it in the Houston Chronicle.
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We need to interject some positive comments in response to the Houston Chronicle‘s coverage of the event. When you have a moment today, please go to the Chronicle and post a comment, commending the religious leaders for speaking out on this issue. You will need to create an account with the Chronicle (if you don’t have one already) in order to post a comment or give good comments a “thumbs up.”
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Special thanks to Karen Clifton with the Catholic Mobilizing Network, Deacon Joe Rubio, Dave Atwood, Steph Weber, Mary Heartlein and everyone who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of this event. TCADP shares Sister Helen’s aspiration that this is just the beginning of many conversations to come and we look forward to working with faith communities throughout the state on engaging their members on this critical social justice issue.