St. Augustine, Fla. – The fourth annual Cities for Life, a worldwide initiative to abolish the death penalty is Thursday, Nov. 30, at The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios, 101 San Marco Ave., St. Augustine. 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 St. Augustine Cities for Life are:

• Timothy Johnson, Ph.D. – A professor of Religion at Flagler College in St. Augustine. He will speak on the mistaken belief that God advocates for revenge in Scripture. He will also address quality social justice from the biased application of the death penalty.
• Professor Chris Moser, J.D. – A professor of Law at Flagler College. She will discuss the racial and cultural biased application of the death penalty and the inexperienced representation of death row inmates versus the resourceful and funded District Attorney’s office.
• Kathy Dillon –  At 14, her father was shot and killed in the line of duty in New York. Ten years later, her boyfriend was also shot and left to die on a roadside. She will talk about losing both her father and boyfriend to murder. She belongs to Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation and Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights.

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.