Jacksonville, Fla. – The fifth annual Cities for Life, a worldwide initiative to abolish the death penalty is Saturday, 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 four years.

Speakers this year include Dale Recinella who has served as a lay Catholic correctional chaplain for inmates on Florida’s death row for the last 21 years. Once a well-off attorney, Recinella’s second career has made him an expert on faith-based prison ministry, a strong critic of the death penalty, and a trusted counselor to hundreds of men at the extreme margins of society.

Also speaking at the Cities for Life gathering are Deacon Andy and his wife Kate Grosmaire, whose 19-year-old daughter Ann was murdered by her fiancé in 2010. Driven by their Catholic faith, the couple has forgiven their daughter’s killer. The Grosmaires, who speak throughout the country, talk about the power of forgiveness and restorative justice in the criminal justice system.

Ingrid Delgado, the associate director for Social Concerns and Respect Life for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, is also a speaker. She will address the current judicial and legislative status of capital punishment in Florida, as well as explain how to engage politically and advocate for an end to capital punishment.

“In this politically fragmented time, it is a privilege to represent our faith, which transcends partisan politics, in the democratic process, and invites all elected officials to work together in seeking the common good,” said Delgado.

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. 22, 2019
CONTACT: Kathleen Bagg
(904) 262-3200, ext. 110/office
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