Holy Spirit — Bowling Green, January 26, 2003
Called to Act: Why Kentucky Catholics Should Work Against the Death
Penalty
As | begin today, | want to tell you how delighted | am to be here to have the
opportunity to affirm my belief that Catholic opposition to the use of the death
penalty demonstrates that we are a seriously pro-life church that witnesses to the
ever-present love of God for all those he created.
| thank Fr. Mark Buckner for asking me to visit Holy Spirit and | thank you for
being here and welcoming me today.
The efforts of many Kentuckians and that of individuals and groups around
this nation have changed the entire debate surrounding the use of the death penalty.
And we are helped also by Governor George Ryan’s declaration of a moratorium in
Illinois and his subsequent commutation of the death sentences of all those on death
row in that state. In addition there is former Governor Glendenings moratorium in
Maryland, as well as last year’s U. S. Supreme Court rulings regarding the mentally
retarded and the requirement that jurors mete out sentences in these cases and not
judges.
Within the Catholic community, the writings and speeches of Pope John Paul
Il, the subsequent change in the new Catechism, the continuous condemnation of
the death penalty by our own bishops, from 1973 until the present, have moved this
issue into the mainstream.
Ordinarily, when | am asked to speak on this issue, it is to some civic group,
rather than a gathering of Catholics, though there is the occasional invitation to
preach about it in October, Respect Life Month. When | mentioned to a former
parishioner who is a friend of mine that | was coming here to talk about Why
Catholics Should Work Against the Death Penalty, Joyce immediately remarked,
“Why wouldn't you be?” Even though her niece was murdered, Joyce does not
hesitate to make her faith visible and her opposition to the death penalty public. It
comes almost naturally to her; for others, it is more difficult.
Preparing these remarks is sometimes difficult, not because | have an
second-thoughts about why we should oppose the death penalty, but because |
have been doing this for so long, | have forgotten how | got to this point, if | ever
knew. | tried to imagine myself in the audience and wondered if | would like to listen
to someone read to me what the Pope has said, words from U. S. Bishops’
documents, and other relatively dry material. Having asked that question, |
answered myself: “No — but | might have to do some of that.” But, | would also like to
bring some of this to life and hopefully make it real for you so it becomes a part of
your daily Christian living, like it has for my friend, Joyce.
First of all, | do not think the reason Catholics should oppose the death
penalty is only to be found in documents promoting the social justice teachings of
the church, most of which are barely 100 years old. | think we must recognize that
what we find in those documents itself has a history and a tradition, a tradition
expressed in word in Scripture and in the action that derives from the prayer life of
the community of faith, especially the eucharistic liturgy. | will speak about this ina
moment.
To understand why we should oppose the death penalty, | think it helps to
begin by recognizing who we are and who we are called to become. | propose that
we take seriously the fact that we are disciples of Jesus and that we are on mission:
“Go and make disciples of all, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and
the holy spirit.” We have a task. We are an evangelizing body of believers who must
first be converted to following him and then rejoicing go and spread the good news
to others. The U. S. Bishops have for the past ten years promoted a plan and
strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the U.S. In the 10" anniversary edition they
offer a vision of evangelization that focuses on conversion of heart and proclaiming
the Gospel in a changed and changing world. It emphasizes the continuing need to
be converted, to experience a change of heart, in a world filled with tensions. This, it
seems to me, demands an openness to God and a trust that Jesus keeps his
promise to be with us.
What | am saying is not so different from what you already know. The parish
website announces all the various ministries you have here. In describing what you
do, you announce what you believe, which leads to a description of who you are.
Then because of who you are, you can describe what you plan to do so that we can
recognize you for who you are, followers of Christ. Thus, we bear witness to those
who do not know Christ by living our faith and spreading the good news, reach out in
a special way to those who hunger and thirst for human dignity, the poor, suffering
and oppressed people in our community and in our world.
That, in itself, should be enough to convince many Catholics why living the
faith necessarily calls for opposing the death penalty. This notion of discipleship and
being bearers of good news to the suffering, the oppressed, the sinner finds
expression in these words from Mark Spoto’s book, The Hidden Jesus: Jesus
“speaks of a new inner attitude that frees us from a slavish fear of law; he stresses,
on the contrary, an attitude of constant conversion, of turning to God. He reminds us
that God rejoices over a sinner’s repentance. And no one knows better than God
that a sinner needs time to repent, which is only one reason why a follower of Jesus
can never, under any circumstances, support capital punishment....
“To argue that some criminals are beyond the pale of grace and forgiveness —
and therefore must be executed rather than allowed a lifetime to repent — is simply
to replace God's ultimately free, forgiving and transformative action in the hearts of
human beings with one’s own presumptive and preemptive judgment. To endorse
capital punishment, in other words, is to play God in more ways than one — not only
by taking a life but also by deciding who can and who cannot be changed by grace
and forgiven by God. ‘| have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,’ says the Lord
to the prophet Ezekiel. ‘I desire that the wicked turn from their ways and live’ To that
end, God has the patience of God.”
In their Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities, our bishops make a similar point
when discussing the death penalty: “State-sanctioned killing affects us all because it
diminishes the value we place on all human life. Capital punishment also cuts short
the guilty person's opportunity for spiritual conversion and repentance.”
Statements such as this are at the heart of the social teaching of the Gospel.
We are called to announce the Good News that all, all human life is sacred and has
value. So another reason Catholics should oppose the death penalty is to make this
very point absolutely clear. Speaking about the death penalty, the Bishops drive
home this point in the Pastoral Plan:
“The consequences of widespread loss of respect for the dignity of human life
—seen in pervasive violence, toleration of abortion, and increasingly vocal support
for assisted suicide and research that destroys human embryos—make it all the
more urgent to reject lethal punishment and uphold the inviolability of every human
life. "Our witness to respect for life shines most brightly when we demand respect for
each and every human life, including the lives of those who fail to show that respect
for others" (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 22). Thus we are called to extend God's
love to all human beings created in his image, including those convicted of serious
crimes. In so doing, we can help to make "unconditional respect for life the
foundation of a new society" (The Gospel of Life, no. 77).”
The social teaching of the church, as set forth above and in other documents,
is given to us to guide Christ's disciples as we cooperate with his grace in building a
just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of our modern world.
“Our belief in the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person
is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. ... We believe that every
person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the
measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity
of the human person.”
As disciples, you and | are called to promote “A culture of life ‘where every
human life is protected, respected and celebrated.’ Doing this begins with a personal
decision to respect the dignity of others. But it will take much more than that. We
must bear this culture to others through our words and actions, and work for public
policies that support human life and human dignity.”
OK —1 think | have quoted enough from official documents. You can use the
web, your parish library, and other resources to find all these documents from which
| have been quoting and | am sure you are quite capable of reading them
yourselves.
At this point allow me to offer some reflections that over time have helped me
understand why it is so important to oppose killing the men, women and children we
house on the death rows of this nation. | am not going to talk about the racism, the
bad lawyering, the prosecutorial misconduct, the desire for vengeance, the mistaken
identity or any of the other reasons, even that of innocence, that should cause us to
oppose killing these people, or at the minimum declaring a nationwide moratorium
as we attempt to get it right.
| prefer to describe some personal experiences and hope you find some
meaning in them for yourselves. Long before Sr. Helen Prejean was famous for
Dead Man Walking she visited Louisville Kentucky to promote the quickly defunct
“Torch of Conscience Campaign.” | think this was the late ‘80’s, early ‘90’s of the last
century. Anyway, by chance, friends of mine hosted her and they were members of
a parish, where, again by chance, | was the celebrant of that Sunday’s liturgies.
Maybe because Helen was there or maybe because it was just after Easter and |
was somehow conscious that Gregory Wilson, a man still on Ky’s death row, was
baptized and confirmed at Easter, or maybe because God works in strange ways
and constantly helps us see things more clearly. For whatever reason, when | got to
the words in the 3% Eucharistic prayer, “In mercy and love unite all your children,
where-ever they may be”, it became crystal clear why we, as Catholics, must always
oppose the death penalty. The banquet we celebrate is all-inclusive — it calls for the
unity of all God’s children; it matters not if that child is in a womb or in a cell on death
row, we may not deprive God of the opportunity to distribute his mercy and to open
his loving arms and receive that person. Our opposition to the death penalty,
therefore, most deeply flows from the sacrifice of Christ and the banquet he provides
for all of us. It became absolutely clear to me that Gregory Wilson was, indeed, my
brother, made so by his baptism into the death of the Lord; and to kill him, to not
stand up to a state that wants to kill him in MY name, is fratricide. | am Cain killing
my brother, Abel. Can | be a true disciple and do that? |, for one, cannot.
