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September 11, 2020
To the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,
to Your Excellency, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez; Your Excellency, Allen H. Vigneron; Your Excellency, Timothy P. Broglio; and, Your Excellency, Gregory L. Parkes:
On behalf of Death Penalty Focus, which has sought abolition of the death penalty for more than 38 years, our national subscribers, California death penalty opponents, and all our friends, family, and colleagues who signed the petition below, we urge you, your Excellencies, to immediately and publicly oppose the nomination of Attorney General Bill Barr for the Christifideles Laici award.
While we understand that the USCCB was not involved in the nomination of Mr. Barr for this award, we strongly urge you to speak out against the injustice that his award represents. Aside from Catholic Church insiders, few are aware that the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is not operated under the auspices of the Church. The thousands who signed our previous petition are waiting to hear from Church leadership that the Church does not condone Mr. Barr's killing or this award.
Your silence in the face of this public demonstration of Catholicism - authorized or not - acts as a tacit endorsement of Mr. Barr and his relentless pursuit of death.
After a 17-year moratorium, Mr. Barr single-handedly reinstated the federal death penalty. At his hands, in six weeks five men have been executed. These are men, who but for Mr. Barr's orders, would be alive today:
Mr. Barr ordered the execution of two more men in September. William Emmett LeCroy, age 50, will be killed on September 22, 2020. Christopher Andre Vialva, age 45, will be killed on September 24, 2020. The Attorney General is set to receive the Christifideles Laici award the day after Mr. LeCroy will be executed, and while Mr. Vialva is breathing his last breaths.
Psalm 82 asks:
2 “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? 3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
With your silence, the Church defends the actions of Bill Barr. Your Excellencies, please speak up and publicly oppose the nomination of Attorney General Bill Barr for the Christifideles Laici Award. Remind the United States and the world that the Catholic Church will not endorse executions or executioners.
Respectfully,
Your name is added to our petition asking the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to publicly oppose
the nomination of Attorney General William Barr
for the Christifideles Laici award.
Thank you for speaking truth to power.
You are making a difference.