THE DEATH PENALTY

Press Conference Advisory

What: Catholic Bishops to Launch Major New “Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty
Groundbreaking Zogby Poll Demonstrates Dramatic Rise in Catholic Opposition to Use of the Death Penalty

When: Monday, March 21, 9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Where: National Press Club, Zenger Room (529 14th St. NW; Washington, DC)
(Media also may phone in.)

Participants in the briefing include:

- Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, past chair of the Bishops’ Committee which developed the “Campaign.” McCarrick will describe the Campaign elements, significance and goals.

- John Zogby, President and CEO, Zogby International, who conducted the groundbreaking survey and follow-up research. He will outline the surprising and politically important results of the survey.

- Bud Welch, a Catholic layman whose daughter was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. Welch will address the Campaign through his own efforts to overcome the violence that took his daughter’s life and the violence of the death penalty.

- Kirk Bloodsworth, who spent more than a decade on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. Bloodsworth will address the campaign as a Catholic who entered the Church while awaiting execution.

The new Campaign will include new teaching and educational resources, a new website, continuing legal action, ongoing legislative advocacy at state and federal levels, and links to the Church’s pro-life and “faithful citizenship” efforts. The Campaign is being launched at the beginning of Holy Week, a time when Christians mark the execution of Jesus Christ nearly two thousand years ago.