Diocese of St. Augustine Hosts Annual Cities for Life
November 27, 2018 • Kathleen Bagg

Jacksonville, Fla. – The fourth annual Cities for Life, a worldwide initiative to abolish the death penalty is Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Basilica of Immaculate Conception, 121 E. Duval Street, Jacksonville. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with a call for all churches in North Florida to ring their bells at 7:30 p.m. in solidarity to end the death penalty.

The Rome-based Sant’Egidio Community launched the first international “Cities for Life, Cities against the Death Penalty” in 2002. Since then more 2,100 cities worldwide have joined the cause to end capital punishment. The Diocese of St. Augustine has hosted Cities for Life for the last three years.

Bishop Felipe Estévez released a statement on the Death Penalty this week. In it, he says he is committed to encouraging the new governor and political leadership of Florida to reduce the death sentence to a lesser sentence for all persons who are on death row in Florida or, if innocent, to grant them exoneration, and to submit and support legislation to repeal the Death Penalty.

This year, the event will occur in three areas of the diocese: St. Augustine, Gainesville, and Jacksonville. The speakers for the Jacksonville Cities for Life are:

  • Professor Stephen Harper, J.D. – Supervises the Death Penalty Clinic at Florida International University and is the director of the Florida Center for Capital Representation. He is a visiting clinical professor at FIU Law. He was recently interviewed by The Wall Street Journal for an article on “Florida, A Big Death-Penalty State, Weighs What to Do About School Shooting.”
  • Emma Tacke – An Associate Director of Community Engagement with the Catholic Mobilizing Network.
  • Bobbi Jean Murray –  A sister of Steven James Murray who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Father Rene Robert. She will talk about the making of the film, “Where There is Darkness” and how the film about the murder brought two families together.
  • Nancy O’Byrne – Chairwoman for Floridians for Alternatives to the death penalty.

For more information, call Deacon Lowell “Corky” Hecht, director of Prison Ministry for the Diocese of St. Augustine, at (727) 348-8794 or email checht@dosafl.com.

DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
CONTACT:  Kathleen Bagg
(904) 262-1705/office
(904) 434-3909/cell