Sometimes Donna Keogh has been asked why she opposes the death penalty. Let her count the ways.
“It’s anti-life, obviously,” she said, adding that her Catholic faith dictates that all life is sacred. “It’s a failed governmental institution and an example of governmental overreach. And number three, it costs an extraordinary amount of money to operate a program that doesn’t work (to lower crime).
“And I also feel that money could be better used for other crime prevention, victim compensation, police training, that kind of thing.”
In July 2019, the U.S, Department of Justice gave approval to resume executions of federal inmates. The last federal execution occurred 16 years ago. But five inmates on death row at the federal correctional institution in Terre Haute are tentatively scheduled to be executed in December and January.
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Keogh, a member of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church’s peace and justice ministry, has worked alongside others at St. Bartholomew, plus believers at First Presbyterian Church and North Christian Church, to organize a free event called Life Matters: A Prayer Response to the Death Penalty, scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 3 at St. Bartholomew.
The program will feature educational and informational aspects. For instance, it will include Plainfield’s Karen Burkhart, the Indiana death penalty abolition coordinator for Amnesty International, discussing traditional reasons for using the death penalty and how the Catholic position has changed over the years. Plus, national speaker Abraham Bonowitz will talk about his conversion from proponent of the death penalty to abolitionist.
But it will also include a prayer time to spiritually intervene for the inmates, their families and their executioners while also remembering the victims and their families, according to David Harpenau, among the organizers.
Keogh points out that the United States currently ranks fifth worldwide in its use of the death penalty, behind China, Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.
“I’d rather not be a part of that fraternity,” Keogh said.
Neither would people such as St. Bartholomew member Judy Harpenau. She has been communicating with a death-row inmate scheduled to be executed on Dec. 13.
The Rev. Felipe Martinez, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church, is on the same page. He will be part of the prayer portion of the event with the Rev. Chris Wadelton and the Rev. Clem Davis from St. Bartholomew and the Rev. Tonja Gerardy of North Christian Church.
“For me, this is about seeking restorative justice, not exacting retribution,” Martinez said. “I think our criminal justice system really needs to look at restorative justice, rather than seeing people as throw-away humans, or less than human. That’s where I’m coming from as an individual and as a pastor.
“I think we should talk about people paying a debt to society, and then rejoining society … and people having the opportunity for redemption.”
Martinez was careful to say that he realizes crime victims often have strong feelings different than his. But he also is concerned about what he sees as a statistical bias against people of color on death row.
“This is a systemic issue,” Martinez said.
Columbus resident Sarah Grey has long been an opponent of the death penalty and has been in attendance at a correctional facility to protest a killing.
“We’re at a point now in this country where a majority of people are against the death penalty, and for all kinds of reasons, including the fact that it doesn’t bring healing to anybody,” Grey said.
As a member of Amnesty International, Grey often has fought against human rights violations.
“And the ultimate abuse of human rights,” she said, “is killing someone.”
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What: Event called Life Matters: A Prayer Response to the Death Penalty.
When: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3.
Where: St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, 1306 27th St. in Columbus.
Why: To protest the federal government re-instituting the death penalty beginning in December. The event will also include a prayer time to spiritually intervene for the inmates, their families and their executioners while also remembering the victims and their families.
Information: 812-379-9353.
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