It seems certain that no one will be executed in New Jersey ever again.

In recent weeks, the commission studying the state's death penalty law has recommended replacing capital punishment with life in prison. Maybe even more importantly, polls show New Jersey residents favor that approach by a comfortable 51 to 41 percent margin.

Newspapers from around the state and pundits nationwide have signaled approval. As one editorial announced, the time to pull the plug on the death penalty has come and to all appearances, the majority of legislators are listening.

All this by no means signals the end of efforts by those who favor replacing the death penalty with life in prison. These folks - I think primarily of Celeste Fitzgerald and everyone connected with New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty - who have lobbied so long and so well for their cause, are not about to stop until a bill ending the death penalty is signed, sealed and delivered into law.

That message came home in a personal way Feb. 2 when one of those advocates, Father Robert Schulze, diocesan director of Jail and Prison Ministries, coordinated a letter writing event in the Pastoral Center Library.

It was part of an ongoing, state-wide NJADP mail campaign to keep the momentum going in a very nice, up-close and personal way. This approach has been a hallmark of a very long campaign.

Father Schulze exemplified it once again by making it easy for us by providing stationery, stamps, the addresses of the legislators and Senate President Codey and a sample text to help us dot the i's and cross the t's.

He set it up for lunch time to make it easy for everyone to get there, sent out an e-mail and then went around to every office extending personal invitations. This courteous, caring approach resulted in 80 signed and sealed letters to Codey and our legislators. A nice yield if you ask me.

Colleague Kathleen Bilancio was so pleased with the personal invitation and the format that she's still talking about it. "Father Schulze thought of everything. You couldn't think of a reason not to do it. He was diligent and he reached out to us."

To such a compelling degree, his approach is emblematic of the entire campaign to overturn the death penalty. One that really is a model for life.

It's such a dicey subject that it could have turned hostile and nasty but it never did, which reflects so well on those on both sides of the issue. All had their points and all made them in ways that reflect the very best of human nature with dignity, assurance, compassion and, as Bilancio noted, due diligence.

Over the years, I've come to think of this campaign as an icon of how you go about making the case for life. In this instance, a handful of people, consistently and truly assumed the patience of Job and called our attention to the fact that human beings can "do better" than the death penalty.

That was the phrase Bishop John M. Smith used when he testified eloquently against the death penalty before the commission back in July. "The death penalty diminishes all of us," he said, speaking for all the state's Catholic bishops and by extension, all of us.

"Its use ought to be abandoned not only for what it does to those who are executed but what it does to us as a society. We cannot teach respect for life by taking life."

Outside the hearing room, that sizzling hot summer day, he asked reporters if the death penalty was the "best we can do" in this highly evolved age. And then, he answered his own question. "In today's world," he said, "there are much better ways."

In New Jersey, it appears that life in prison - with all the i's dotted and the t's crossed - is that better way. Hand-written letters making that point are still being sought, by the way. Father Schulze was very specific about that. Say what you will about e-mail, there's nothing like a sack or two or three of stamped mail to grab the attention of the legislators.