The Christian Church celebrates new life on Easter. This year on the evening of Easter, the cathedral in Little Rock will pray for those about to lose their lives, Episcopal News Service reports.
“The cathedral will hold services if we reach the point when there is nothing left to do but pray,” said the Very Rev. Christoph Keller III, dean and rector, in an email message to Episcopal News Service. “Then we will pray for the men who are about to die, and those who love them; and for those who died and suffered in the crimes for which they have been convicted, and those who love them.”
Death penalty opponents have held daily demonstrations outside the governor’s mansion since the executions were announced in March. On April 12, clergy planned to hand deliver a letter signed by more than 200 clergy from across Arkansas to Gov. Asa Hutchison urging him to show mercy.
Two of the seven men are scheduled to die by lethal injection on Easter Monday, April 17, two more on April 20, another two on the 24, and one on April 27; the final execution is scheduled three days before the expiration date of the execution sedative midazolam. One hour before the scheduled executions, the cathedral will host a brief ecumenical service followed by a short walk to the Arkansas governor’s mansion for a candlelight vigil.
The scheduled executions have prompted criticism, protests and lawsuits.
“The death penalty is driven by revenge – not justice,” said the Rev. Allison Liles, executive director of Episcopal Peace Fellowship, in a late March press release condemning the executions. “And a high price of this vengeful punishment is being paid by the prison workers forced to endure the reality of what it means to execute a human being.”
Arkansas hasn’t executed a prisoner in 12 years; when the governor scheduled the eight executions it came “out of the blue,” said Caroline Stevenson, a member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock and a member of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
The ongoing protests outside the governor’s mansion indicate citizens’ outrage and “give them a way to try and influence the governor,” said Stevenson, in a phone call with ENS. “Is he moveable? Not that we can tell.”
Image from cathedral website.