As an ordained Roman Catholic deacon, serving as a chaplain to our incarcerated sisters and brothers in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, I most strongly urge Attorney General William Barr to immediately halt plans for the federal executions of Daniel Lee (July 13), Wesley Purkey (July 15), Dustin Honken (July 17) and Keith Nelson (Aug. 28).

St. John Paul II clearly stated in Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life): “The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.”

On a daily basis, within my ministry, I witness God’s powerful graces redeem the lives of men and women whom society judges as unredeemable; even individuals who have committed the most heinous crimes. A church, a society, cannot claim to be “pro-life” and rail against the “culture of death” while at the same time sanctioning the killing of four of God’s children.

Keith G. Kondrich

Swisshelm Park

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