LifeLines Conference in York

Sisters Innocentia and Attracta attended a conference of the LifeLines charity in York on 12th April 2014. They have both become active members in this charity, which provides pen friends for prisoners who have received a death sentence in the USA. With some abandoned by their family and friends, this correspondence can be their only lifeline.

LifeLines was established 25 years ago and has been supporting the men and women on America's Death Rows.  It is not a religious, political or campaigning organization.  Its first conference was held in Cambridge in May 1990 and the second one in London in 1990.  There are around three thousand people on Death Row in America and about fifty of those are women.  Those who have no money at all have appalling legal representation.  As well as supporting prisoners on Death Row, LifeLines does not forget about the victims' families.

One of the speakers at the conference asked us to remember if we had ever done something wrong that no-one found out about.  Then, we have to ask ourselves if we are morally any better than those who have been imprisoned for their crimes. Are we really qualified to judge them?

Currently, there are not enough pen friends available through LifeLines for the number of people on Death Row who need them.  The conference has inspired us to inform more people about the work of LifeLines and encourage them to become involved.  We talked with Nicola Glasse, a UK co-ordinator, about how to spread the word through talks and leaflets in our own area.

Jesus loved every person regardless of what they had done.  He did not give up on anyone, but reached out with acceptance and compassion to those society considered 'sinners', criminals and outcasts. Refusing to condemn a woman who was caught committing adultery, he told her accusers that the one of them who had not sinned must be the first to throw a stone at her. Then, they all went away and left her alone. Jesus told the woman to renounce her sin and make a new start.  As Christians, we feel called to follow Jesus' example of love by being a human lifeline to a person the state has condemned to death, and by praying for prisoners and their families, as well as for all those affected by their past actions.

For more information and details of how to join, please visit the website http://www.lifelines-uk.org.uk/

Thank you for reading this, and may God bless you.

(by Sr. Attracta)