I recently heard from Kevin Cronin of California, a long-time reader of this column who has become a friend via e-mail. He sent me information about a new booklet titled "Catholics and the Death Penalty, Six Things You Can Do to End Capital Punishment," written by Robert Hopcke and published by St. Anthony Messenger.

I immediately picked up the phone and had an encouraging conversation with Hopcke. He knew I had written a book against the death penalty, asking Americans to "Choose Mercy." What he didn't know was that I desperately needed to talk to a "brother" seeking encouragement in our Catholic efforts to end the death penalty.

In my state of Connecticut, we will soon have our first execution in nearly 50 years. On Jan. 26, 2005, Michael Ross is to be put to death by lethal injection. My hope would be that every Catholic parish in Connecticut would petition Gov. Jodi Rell to grant clemency for Ross, but for that to happen, it probably would take a miracle.

Few Catholics I have talked to would really want to save Ross, a notorious serial rapist/killer of eight young women, by his own count. In 1987 he received the death sentence for his horrible crimes. Since then, according to many documented reports, it was learned he had a psychiatric disorder that turned him into the monster who raped and killed. Medicine he received in prison has eliminated the uncontrollable urges that drove him to commit the crimes.

I can hear the taunting responses, and as a mother of a murdered son and daughter-in-law, I can empathize with them. Yet, in the 17 years since his conviction I have met with many who got to know Ross --- the "healed" Ross. One was a Catholic priest who visited him for a long time and said he had found in Ross "an articulate, very real human being, now being helped by drugs that control the mental illness that triggered his horrible actions."

Many who worked with Ross told me that he was "seeking redemption." Yet Ross would say he also wanted to die so that families of his victims could perhaps "be relieved of their pain."

Instead, he received a new defense and was assigned a lawyer I am proud to call a friend, Karen Goodrow. She works to try to end the death sentences because she sees it "as an honor to try to save their life." And she acknowledges, "Defending a Michael Ross is a test of your conviction."

With an execution pending in my state, I needed to feel the comfort of talking to a fellow Catholic as concerned about this issue as I am. Hopcke's booklet should be in the hands of Catholics, especially those who may not have read the document written by the Catholic bishops of Washington state:

"We bishops, as shepherds of the Catholic community, are especially concerned about the willingness of so many faithful Catholics to accept capital punishment as a response to violence. Sadly, there appears to be a chasm between what the church teaches on this issue and what some Catholics are able to accept. We must bridge this chasm."

"Catholics and the Death Penalty " is available from St. Anthony Messenger: cgholmes@americancatholic.org. Antoinette Bosco is a columnist with Catholic News Service.