October is Respect Life Month

STEWARDS OF OUR EARTH

All of God’s Creation

Social Justice Committee, Holy Cross Parish, Mt. Airy, October 19, 2025  

The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred, and that the dignity of the person is at the core of a moral vision for society. Our belief in the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. (Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice)

At the 2025 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, “the Holy See called for universal abolition of the death penalty, noting that the unchallengeable, God-given dignity of every human person is immutable from conception to natural death.… It also condemned any form of mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, and attempts to coerce the will itself…. The Holy See’s representative noted the increasing awareness that even those guilty of grave crimes do not lose their inherent dignity, alongside the development of penal systems that protect society without depriving offenders of the possibility of redemption.” (Sr. Christine Masivo, CPS, Vatican News, 10/10/25)  

Here in the U.S, faith-based events across the country throughout the month of October will echo the call: “the death penalty violates the sanctity of life and needs to be abolished…. We are called to promote a culture of life. Ending the death penalty is an important — and attainable — step on that journey. But getting there will take our consistent witness as a people of faith.” (Emmjolee Mendoza Waters, Director of Death Penalty Abolition Program, Catholic Mobilizing Network)

“The execution crisis is here and the need for action has never been more urgent. Across the country, states are ramping up the machinery of death, disregarding justice, accountability, and the growing national momentum to end the death penalty.” (Death Penalty Action, 10/4/25) “The eight executions scheduled for this month only reaffirm why death penalty abolition needs to be included in our Respect Life Month prayers, actions, and advocacy.” (Sr. Eileen Reilly, Catholic Mobilizing Network)

A Prayer for Justice by Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ *

God of Compassion, You let your rain fall on the just and the unjust.

Expand and deepen our hearts so that we may love as You love, even those among us who have caused the greatest pain by taking life. For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance as we fill up death row and kill the killers in the name of justice, in the name of peace. Jesus, our brother, you suffered execution at the hands of the state but you did not let hatred overcome you. Help us to reach out to victims of violence so that our enduring love may help them heal. Holy Spirit of God, You strengthen us in the struggle for justice. Help us to work tirelessly for the abolition of state-sanctioned death and to renew our society in its very heart so that violence will be no more.

*Sr. Prejean is a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. Her best-selling book is Dead Man Walking (1993).

Comments on this column may be directed to the Social Justice Committee at socialjustice@holycrossphl.org. Click here for column archive.