The death penalty's toll

Salt shakers
May 2001

The death penalty's toll
Throughout history, the ringing of church bells has been used to note occasions both solemn and joyful. In 1945, many church bells tolled to announce the end of World War II. They also have been used to warn about marauders or approaching storms. Now, a 78-year-old nun from Massachusetts hopes the pealing of church bells will remind Americans about another battle—the fight against the death penalty.

Almost single-handedly, Sister Dorothy Briggs, a member of the Dominicans of St. Catharine, Kentucky, has organized the "For Whom the Bells Toll" campaign in the United States, encouraging religious communities to toll their bells for two minutes starting at 6 p.m. on the day of an execution. Places of worship without bells are asked to hang a black drape outside the doors of their building.

"The tolling bells will be a reminder to all who hear them that all of us are diminished by continuing acts of murder," she says. "The churches, monasteries, abbeys, temples, and synagogues that join in this effort will go along way toward stopping the death penalty."

Briggs admits that bell-ringing alone won't change public policy or public opinion on this issue. "But it brings attention to the issue, and it's part of the composite of all these people today who are fighting the death penalty."

Count Briggs among those activists. Other sisters in her order call her "a woman on a mission" to end the death penalty in the United States. She says she's never approved of capital punishment but that her passion for the issue was heightened after 25 years of prison ministry. Briggs was focused on lobbying for reform of the criminal justice system in Massachusetts and was the founder of the state chapter of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), a prison reform group that is co-sponsoring the bells project.

Like many sisters of her generation, Briggs started out as a teacher. She was also a painter. Her passion for art inadvertently prompted her foray into prison ministry. She was having a hard time sawing wood for her canvas stretchers when a friend, who was chaplain at the local prison, suggested a prisoner with carpentry skills might help her out. He did, and they became fast friends. Briggs visited him for 10 years, until he was released.

She got the idea for "For Whom the Bells Toll" from Cardinal Jaime Sin of the Philippines, who asked Catholic churches in his country to toll their bells to mourn executions. When Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Virginia learned about it, he also instituted the practice in his diocese. But it was this retired—though not retiring—nun who decided to make the campaign national—and ecumenical.

"If the churches can't get behind this issue, I don't know who you turn to. But I didn't want it to just be Catholics," says Briggs, noting that among the 31 participating communities are Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Christian Scientists. The American Friends Service Committee is partnering with the bells project specifically for the scheduled execution of Timothy McVeigh.

So rather than spend her golden years relaxing, Briggs is busying knocking on church doors, writing letters, speaking to groups, and giving interviews. She was encouraged by the enthusiastic response from communities of religious women ("The sisters just got right behind it!") but so far reaction from the U.S. bishops has been slow. Only a handful replied encouragingly to a recent letter she sent to all of them.

But Briggs is not discouraged. "I'm optimistic that the death penalty will end in this country," she says. "I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow or the next day or even next year. But it's got to happen sometime-because it's wrong." —Heidi Schlumpf

On the net:
CURE
For Whom the Bells Toll

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