What's Happening

March 24, 2026, Winter Park, Florida – “There are many deaths that happen with the death penalty – not only the prisoner but certainly the death of hope for the prisoner’s family and the death of another piece of our human soul because we deny the dignity of that person [who was executed].”

That was the reflection of Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, who attended a recent anti-death penalty rally, along with Adrian Dominican Sisters Marie Skebe, OP, and Janet Stankowski, OP. Sisters Rosemary and Marie both live in Florida, the site of many of the executions in the United States, and Sister Janet was visiting from Detroit.

The rally – attended by about 40 people – was held at St. Margaret Mary Church in Winter Park, where Sister Rosemary has ministered. It began with a candlelight prayer vigil led by parishioners and a talk by Abraham Bonowitz, Co-founder and Director of Death Penalty Action. Participants were invited to ring the Delaware Bell, originally used in Delaware at the time of state executions. Delaware has since abolished the death penalty and has given the bell to Abraham for his use in advocacy across the country.

The event continued with a talk by SueZann Bosler, whose father was brutally attacked and killed, and who herself was attacked at the same time and almost died. She spoke against the death penalty for the man who killed her father and attacked her.

Sisters Marie and Rosemary have been long-time advocates against the death penalty since a hearing more about the issue at the Sisters’ Florida Mission Chapter in 2017. “Dale, an attorney and chaplain on death row in Florida, gave a presentation to our assembly which was overwhelmingly powerful,” Sister Marie said. “By the end of the Assembly, the Florida Chapter came up with an initiative” to advocate against the death penalty. 

The initiative, Standing Together in Solidarity Against the Death Penalty, is intended to reinvigorate a movement among Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, Co-workers, and seekers centering on the Congregation’s April 2002 corporate stance against the death penalty.

Part of Sister Marie’s ministry as chair of the committee is to send email notices to Sisters and Associates when someone is to be executed in the United States – and to ask for their advocacy on behalf of that person. Since she began sending out those notices in September 2024, Sister Marie said, at least 60 executions have been scheduled across the United States. The State of Florida alone executed 19 people in 2025. 

Sister Marie noted the cruel methods used to execute inmates. “We’ve seen [the form of execution] go from lethal injection – which sounds clean but is horrible – and we’ve come up with another horrible [technique] of gas suffocation,” she explained. South Carolina has added the option of a firing squad. All of these techniques, she said, can easily fail at first, adding to the suffering of the person being executed.  

In spite of their long-time advocacy against the death penalty, Sisters Rosemary and Marie gained new perspectives during the recent rally. Rosemary said she was especially touched to hear the story of SueZann Bosler. She noted that justice authorities were empathetic to what she suffered as a victim and the daughter of a victim – but not to her stance against the death penalty. 

Victims who speak out against the death penalty “receive absolutely no support from the prosecution team,” Sister Marie added. SueZann “could not get the point across …. The judge threatened to put her in jail if she made one more statement against the death penalty. It made no sense.” 

Recent events demonstrate that the lack of respect for human life, as the death penalty shows up in other areas of our society. “Our humanity is destroyed,” Sister Marie said. “In destroying our own humanity, look what happens with the wars. We can wipe out 150 girls in a school [in Iran]. If we can’t reverence one life, how can we reverence many lives?”

Still, Sisters Rosemary and Marie point to many people in the United States – particularly in Florida – who are working toward the end of the death penalty. Sister Marie spoke of parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Daytona Beach who travel by bus to the execution site when one is scheduled. They watch for a signal that the execution has taken place – such as witnesses leaving the prison – and begin a vigil service for the person who was executed. 

Sister Rosemary said her parish, St. Margaret Mary, is also involved in efforts against the death penalty. “We used to have a vigil the night before a scheduled execution,” she said. “But they have become so common now that we have the vigil once a month and name the names [of those to be executed] for that month.” During Mondays in Lent, she said, the parish zeroes in on a particular social justice issue. The parish recently showed a movie about an executioner who became involved with men on Death Row and eventually opposed the death penalty.

Reporters from the Florida Catholic attended the rally and posted videos. They can be viewed here and here.

Caption for above feature photo: From left, Adrian Dominican Sisters Marie Skebe, OP, Janet Stankowski, OP, and Rosemary Finnegan, OP, with Abraham Bonowitz, Director and Co-founder of Death Penalty Action, during a recent action against the death penalty.

January 8, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters wrote to President Joe Biden, praising him for commuting the sentences of 37 men on Federal Death Row to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and further encouraged him in his last days of office to commute the sentence of the remaining three men on Federal Death Row and four men on Military Death Row. The letter reads as follows.

January 8, 2025

President Joe Biden
The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500 

Dear Mr. President,

As you prepare for your visit on Friday with Pope Francis, we write on behalf of the Adrian Dominican Sisters to extend our deep gratitude to you for your principled decision to commute the sentences of 37 men on federal death row to life in prison without possibility of parole. As Catholic women of faith who believe in the inherent dignity of all human beings and the sacred value of life, we have long opposed the death penalty. 

We ask that in your final days in office, you extend that commutation to the remaining three men on federal death row and the four men on military death row. We believe that heinous acts of violence must be addressed resolutely by our system of justice – not by acts of violence that debase our nation and burden individual civil servants with carrying out executions.

We ask that you bring a decisive end to the practice of capital punishment in your term as President. We pray that this moral act will be a prelude to our nation’s return to the league of nations, a majority in the world, that have abolished state executions.

Sincerely,

Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, and Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilors; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.

General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters