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The Church, the Death Penalty and Abortion
An effort to repeal the death penalty in Maryland has failed, despite strong support from the state's Catholic governor and Catholic bishops. Meanwhile, a similar effort in New Mexico continues, where Gov. Bill Richardson, a Catholic, says he is reconsidering his longtime support for capital punishment, in part because of discussions with Sante Fe Archbishop Michael Sheehan.
The Roman Catholic Church's 30-year campaign to end capital punishment continues to influence governors and legislators across the country. But it gets a lot less attention and generates a lot less controversy than its more high-profile and highly political efforts to end abortion. Why? Aren't both issues considered equal parts of the Church's "consistent ethic of life"?
Not really. Before he was Pope Benedict, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a 2004 memorandum to American Catholic bishops to guide their discussions about pro-abortion Catholic politicians. It was called "Worthiness to receive Holy Communion -- General principles."
"Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia," Ratzinger explained. "For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia."
So, even though Pope John Paul II repeatedly called for an end to the death penalty, and even though U.S. Catholic bishops began a "Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty," the issue isn't likely to be at the top of any Church leader's agenda for long.
That's why you'll never hear a Catholic bishop threatening to withhold communion for a pro-death-penalty politician. That's why you've heard more about Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebulius, a strong supporter of abortion rights (nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services) than about Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a strong opponent of the death penalty. That's why news of O'Malley's failed effort didn't even make the news blog on the bishops' Web site.
I asked my colleague Elizabeth Tenety, producer of Divine Impulses and our former "Campus Catholic" blogger, to explain. "From a Catholic perspective, I don't think it's about diminishing the death penalty's wrongness, but saying that the right to life is the primary dignity afforded human beings," she said. "Once you get out of the womb, life gets a lot more complicated and so does the working through of the 'seamless garment,'" she said.
"Seamless garment" is a New Testament phrase. In 1983, the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, then the most influential U.S. archbishop, used the phrase to defend linking opposition to capital punishment and nuclear weapons to opposition to abortion. He argued that all of these "prolife" policies constitute a ""consistent ethic of life," a "seamless garment."
So here's my question: Since the deaths of Cardinal Bernardin and Pope John Paul II, has the Church's "ethic of life" become more consistent or inconsistent?
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UPDATE: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed a law March 18 abolishing the death penalty in that state.
David Waters
| March 6, 2009; 10:35 AM ET | Category: Under God Save & Share:
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Posted by: CCNL | March 6, 2009 1:51 PM
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CCNL, "innocence" can only exist where there is the capacity for guilt. A zygote/embryo/fetus is incapable of forming intent; it can be guilty of nothing, therefore is not "innocent".
Posted by: CactusWren1 | March 6, 2009 11:02 PM
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And the pure-of-soul womb child is somehow equivalent to some low-life serial, DNA convicted killer???? Or low-life dictator like Saddam Hussein??
Posted by: CCNL | March 7, 2009 12:46 AM
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As a Catholic,I have always been opposed to the death penalty as a means of punishment.Lex talionis{an eye for an eye} has never appealed to my sense of proportion and justice.The Russian writer and existentialist,Dostoevsky once wrote that the death penalty does not work because the defendant morally demands it.Christ spoke of turning the other cheek.Maybe we should learn to do this more often.
Posted by: Rasputin3 | March 7, 2009 7:11 AM
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As a Catholic,I have always been opposed to the Death penalty.Lex talionis{an eye for an eye}.Christ spoke of turning the other cheek,why can't Man do the same?.The Russian writer,Dostoevsky once said that the legal punishment inflicted does not work because the defendant morally demands it.As for abortion,I stand with ROE vs WADE.Let the woman choose,it is her right.
Posted by: Rasputin3 | March 7, 2009 7:21 AM
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The Catholics of Brazil should excommunicate the evil Munchausen by Proxy matricidal archbishop who excommunicated the 9-year-old rape victim's mother and her brave abortionists who saved her life from her rapist's KILLER twin sperm. All doctors agreed the 80 lb. girl's body couldn't bear one fetus, let alone two. Abortion was, is and will always be SELF-DEFENSE FOR WOMEN. Catholicism allows self-defense, and CRIMINAL MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY MATRICIDAL PEDOPHILE HERETICS rank death row convicts AND RAPISTS' SPERM over the right to life of ALL WOMEN. You can be sure the girl's abortion would have been secretly blessed and covered up if the rapist had been a PRIEST! Most people don't know the Vatican has double standards on abortion when the daddies are not so holy Fathers whose clerical careers can only be saved by aborting their "indiscretions". If I was a Brazilian official, I'd arrest the archbishop along with the rapist. I encourage other nations to consider human rights charges against the archbishop if he travels abroad.
Posted by: clonedlamb | March 7, 2009 7:46 AM
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THE USA IS A GOVERMENT BY THE PEOPLE ,NOT BY ANY RELIGION. HOW MANY KNOW THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY FROM THE START TO DATE? WE THE PEOPLE, NOT ANY RELEGION MAKE OUR LAWS. HOW MANY THAT FILE TAX EXAMPT VIOLATE THE I.R.S. TAX EXAMPT RULES? FREE SPEECH IN THE USA ON A POLITICAL ISSUE OR POLITICAL PERSON IS NOT TAX EXAMPT! IF IN DOUBT, CALL THE I.R.S..
Posted by: usapdx | March 7, 2009 12:13 PM
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As a lapsed Catholic, acutally an agnostic, I am pro-death penalty and pro-choice.
Posted by: mmm1110 | March 7, 2009 6:14 PM
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All sperm is sacred except that of one accused of murder.
Posted by: coloradodog | March 9, 2009 8:48 AM
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I'm a young Catholic and I'm anti-war, against stem cells, pro-death penalty and pro-choice, but I'm hazy on pro-choice this seamless garment idea is exactly why I'm pro-choice because I don't believe after your born people can stop caring about you anymore.
I asked my colleague Elizabeth Tenety, producer of Divine Impulses and our former "Campus Catholic" blogger, to explain. "From a Catholic perspective, I don't think it's about diminishing the death penalty's wrongness, but saying that the right to life is the primary dignity afforded human beings," she said. "Once you get out of the womb, life gets a lot more complicated and so does the working through of the 'seamless garment,'" she said.
"Seamless garment" is a New Testament phrase. In 1983, the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, then the most influential U.S. archbishop, used the phrase to defend linking opposition to capital punishment and nuclear weapons to opposition to abortion. He argued that all of these "prolife" policies constitute a ""consistent ethic of life," a "seamless garment."
Posted by: Nosmanic | March 10, 2009 10:07 PM
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And the always innocent, pure of soul womb child is somehow equivalent to some low-life serial, DNA convicted killer???? Or low-life dictator like Saddam Hussein??