Success Story

Catholics Against Capital Punishment (aka Catholic Mobilizing Network) launched the National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty in May 2017. One of the most vocal supporters of this initiative was Marietta Jaeger-Lane, someone who has personally seen the horrors of the death penalty.In 1973, when her 7-year-old daughter, Susie, was kidnapped in Montana and murdered by her captor, Marietta says should could have killed the perpetrator with her bare hands. However, her Catholic faith called her to something different. Marietta eventually rejected the death penalty for Susie's killer and has spoken regularly now for over 40 years about the ways that the death penalty fails murder victims' families. It does not bring healing or closure; no act of violence can ever bring loved ones back. The death penalty only creates more victims' family members. Furthermore, capital punishment denies offenders a chance for conversion, for the mercy of God to work in their lives. Marietta affirms that "the Catholic community can be the one to end the death penalty." People like Marietta are why this movement to end the death penalty and promote restorative justice is so important. And it is working.Over 13,000 people have already signed the National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty. In August 2017, thousands of these faith advocates petitioned governors in Missouri and Texas to stop pending executions, and both were stopped. These advocates will continue to educate, advocate, and pray for an end to capital punishment. For Marietta. For other victims and their families. For a world rooted in mercy and justice.