NATION

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 11, 1998 by Teresa Malcolm

Former death row inmates gather at conference One by one, 29 former death row inmates marched across the stage at the Northwestern University Law School in Chicago and signed their names on a blackboard that read, "We are alive today despite the criminal justice system's intense efforts to kill us."

These ex-convicts, all males, are among the 75 living U.S. citizens who received death sentences in recent years and later were found to be innocent. Their appearance was the climax of a three-day National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty, organized by the law school and attended by more than 800 attorneys, academics, anti-death penalty activists and interested citizens.

The organizers aimed to establish that the death penalty should be abolished because of the inordinately high likelihood that the innocent will be executed. Nine of the exonerated were from Illinois, which has executed only 11 persons since the death penalty was reinstated 23 years ago.

Many of the once condemned men narrated stories of living for years in despair on death row; some said they were so psychologically damaged by the experience they can scarcely enjoy freedom now.

The conference included some 30 sessions and workshops on subjects ranging from how to seek impartial juries in capital trials, to monitoring police and prosecutor misconduct, to the regulation and standardization of confessions.

McCory, Robert

Vancouver archbishop seeks clemency for Faulder

Archbishop Adam Exner of Vancouver, British Columbia, has written Texas Gov. George W. Bush to seek clemency for Canadian Joseph Stanley Faulder, who was scheduled for execution Dec. 10.

The archbishop, writing in his capacity as chairman of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, also wrote Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy to thank the government for its efforts on behalf of the condemned man.

The 61-year-old Alberta man was convicted of the 1977 murder of Inez Phillips, the 75-year-old matriarch of a wealthy Texas oil family. He has been scheduled to be executed nine times since then.

The Canadian Church Council on Justice and Corrections and the Montreal-based International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development also urged Bush to commute Faulder's sentence on humanitarian grounds.

Young adults convene for nonviolence retreat

More than 50 young adults from throughout California gathered Thanksgiving weekend for a retreat on nonviolence at the headquarters of the United Farm Workers Union in Delano and La Paz, Calif.

Through role-playing, the young men and women shared experiences they have encountered in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

They learned about the values of nonviolence of Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993. They also heard testimonials from the leaders of the 1965 grape strike.

The participants offered a prayer at Chavez's grave and committed themselves to return to their parishes and communities to challenge young people to find nonviolent solutions to the crises they encounter.

Long-term stereotype of homeless out-of-date

The prevalent stereotype of America's homeless as long-term drifters is woefully out-of-date, according to a survey released Nov. 23.

A 1998 survey of 20,000 homeless people released by the International Union of Gospel Missions shows that 61 percent said they had been homeless less than a year. That figure is 11 percentage points higher than the findings of a 1989 survey.

Through surveys over the last 10 years, the association has chronicled the changing. face of America's homeless. For example, the 1998 survey found that women with children composed 66 percent of the families surveyed, compared to 46 percent in 1989. Clients younger than 18 comprise 12 percent of the survey total in 1998, an increase of 4 percent from the 1989 survey.

"Rescue mission programs are changing to deal with the new demands required of them," said the Rev. Stephen E. Burger, executive director of the association. "Specifically, missions have developed or enhanced programs for women and children to meet the needs of the ever-increasing number of single-parent families on the streets."

Burger said the effects of changes in welfare legislation on the homeless need to be studied further.

"Twenty-two percent of those surveyed say they have lost government benefits in the past year -- mostly women with children," he said. "They've lost AFDC benefits and food stamps."

Panel analyzes effect of homosexuality letter

Getting the word out about a pastoral letter to parents of homosexuals has been both frustrating and rewarding, according to two bishops and a panel of lay ministers who marked the document's one-year anniversary by talking about their experiences with it.

Participants in a Nov. 18 "report from the pews" hosted by New Ways Ministry during the U.S. bishops' annual fall meeting reported some roadblocks and some newly opened doors as they have tried to build on the spirit of "Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers."