Q. 1. What is the organization Catholics Against Capital Punishment and what is its standing in the Catholic Church?

A. 1. This group was formally launched on January 25, 2009.

The Catholic Mobilizing Network to End Use of the Death Penalty (CMN) in the United States endeavors to take up the challenge of the U.S. bishops’ “Campaign To End the Use of the Death Penalty” (A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, 2005).

Late in the summer of 2008, veteran proponents of death-penalty repeal gathered in Washington, D.C., to consider how best to engage lay American Catholics in the bishops’ campaign.

The group determined that a national Catholic networking organization should be created to inform and facilitate the death penalty-related work of state Catholic conferences, diocesan offices, and other Catholic organizations and institutions. Among other services, the new organization would provide resource materials and education programs (in English and Spanish), teacher training, speakers for conferences and special events, and a website with downloadable media links.

[Source: http://catholicsmobilizing.org/mission/history/]