Victims' Rights Advocate To Represent Families Of Murder Victims During Pope's Visit To Prison
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia victims' rights advocate will represent the families of murder victims when Pope Francis meets with inmates at the Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility on Sunday. She's hoping for something special for the many others grieving.
"Those families are so near and dear to me...I think about them all the time because i know personally that pain..there's no other pain in the world like it," says Dorothy Johnson Speight, founder of Mother's in Charge. She created the non-profit 12 years ago after her 24-year-old son Khaaliq was murdered. Since then, she's worked to stop the violence on two fronts: in the streets and in the prisons.
"We mentor the juveniles that are there, the males and the females," she says, noting MIC is at the prison four nights a week.
And it's her prison connection, as member of the Board of Trustees of Philadelphia Prisons, that led to the invite for the Pope's visit.
Speight says she's thrilled, but wistful for the many others.
"I wanted the Pope to be able to speak to mothers and fathers who lost children to violence," she says, "but I will represent them...I will represent them."
Speight is still deciding just how she'll do that, but she's hoping the Holy Father sees her and is inspired.
"Wouldn't it be great if the Pope could pray for them, through their pain in their grief," she says.
For more on Mothers in Charge, visit: mothersincharge.org.
