Most likely, all of us have had the experience of sitting or lying in well-worn furniture — whether it’s dad’s football Sunday recliner he refuses to donate to the church rummage sale or the bed we are subjected to sleeping in when spending a few nights at the home of relatives during a holiday visit. Sometimes well-worn is comfy and reassuring, but most of the time, it is uncomfortable and annoying to anyone other than the person who is pleased that no one else wants to sit in their chair or visit their guest room. 

Recently, many Catholic advocates urged President Biden to commute the death sentences of the 40 people who were on federal death row. Thanks in large part to these efforts, before Christmas, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row. Their sentences were reclassified from execution to life without the possibility of parole. Three men remain in federal death row.