By Erika Anderson, Staff Writer

ATLANTA—Over 12,000 people in the archdiocese signed the Moratorium 2000 petition requesting a halt in executions, according to Pax Christi Atlanta, the organization that sponsored the effort in the archdiocese.

In November, in an educational effort, Archbishop John F. Donoghue wrote a letter to pastors encouraging them to incorporate the church’s teachings on the death penalty into one of their homilies and to make available the Moratorium 2000 petition. Educational materials about the death penalty were also made available at many parishes.

A controversial subject, the death penalty has sparked many heated debates among Catholics and throughout the nation. Surveys show that 60 to 70 percent of Christians are in favor of the death penalty.

The goal of Pax Christi volunteers was simply to make those in favor of executions consider the moratorium from a Catholic perspective. Originally hoping to get 8,000 signatures, Stuart Cashin, former president of Pax Christi Atlanta, said that the numbers they received were encouraging.

“We are very pleased with the numbers, but also pleased that I think thousands of people thought about (opposing the death penalty) for the first time,” he said. “I also think several thousand people changed their minds.”

Cashin said that many of the 17 volunteers from Pax Christi spoke with people who initially refused to sign the petition but later signed after consideration.

“There were people on the fence (about the issue) who came forward and signed,” he said. “For many people, it was a subject that they hadn’t begun to think about. For others, they realized that there are two sides to this.”

Cashin said that at least 40 pastors and parochial vicars gave homilies regarding church teaching and the death penalty. Fifty-nine parishes actually conducted the campaign with an average of 220 signatures per parish. At least six parishes reported 500 to 1,000 signatures.

Moratorium 2000 is an effort led by Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, the nun whose 1993 book “Dead Man Walking” made her a leader in the fight to end the death penalty.

On Dec. 18, 2000, Sister Prejean addressed the United Nations about the perception of the death penalty in the United States, presenting them with over two million signatures in favor of the moratorium, mostly from Americans. The request was to put a moratorium on use of the death penalty worldwide, so that alternatives could be considered and the issue studied.

In the revised edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it is stated that the death penalty, in cases where guilt is fully determined, is justified “if this is the only possible way of defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.” The Catechism goes on to say that in modern society “the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are rare, if not practically nonexistent” (Section 2267). Non-lethal means of protecting people from the aggressor are “more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person,” the Catechism states.

For more information about Moratorium 2000, visit the web site at www.moratorium2000.org.