Originally published at National Catholic Register
Seven women are on death row in Texas. All have been convicted of murder. And all are lay affiliates of a Catholic religious order.
The women get up at 4 a.m. every day for personal prayer. At 3 p.m., they sing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
They aim for a communal life of contemplation and charity in an unlikely setting — and in a manner far removed from how they acted when Deacon Ronnie Lastovica of the Diocese of Austin first started visiting the unit in late 2014.
Deacon Lastovica told the Register that when he first met them, they were often “at each other’s throat.”
What happened?
Members of the Waco convent of the Sisters of Mary Morning Star started visiting them in December 2021, at the deacon’s request.
The sisters and the prisoners made an instant connection, Deacon Lastovica said, which has grown during the past three years.
One of the convicts was already a Catholic when the sisters began visiting. Five others have since joined the Church. A seventh identifies as a non-Catholic Christian. But all seven, said Deacon Lastovica, have become oblates of the order, meaning they follow some of the practices of the sisters, including
