The Catholic Conference website has some
excellent materials for use in parishes:
¢ Pastoral Statements:
+ Choose Life
« Reverence for Life
¢ Pro-Life Prayer Services For Times of
Transition is a prayer booklet which
includes a vigil service at the time of an
execution.
« Videos:
¢ Capital Punishment: The Death
of Morality
¢ “It Could Happen to You” The
Harold McQueen Story
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky is a
member of the Kentucky
Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty which also
has some excellent materi-
alls for education on the use
of the death penalty. In
addition to information on
its website, the Coalition is posting video
statements on YouTube of victims’ family
members, family members of those on
Kentucky’s death row at Eddyville and
other Kentuckians expressing their rea-
sons for opposition to the use of the
death penalty. Others are invited to
contact them and offer to record your
opposition: staff@kcadp.org. Visit:
¢ www.keadp.org
+ www.youtube.com/kcadp
CONTACT YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS
Call: 1-800-372-7181 toll free and the person who
answers will take down your message and deliver it
to your State Senator and/or State Representative. If
you do not know who that is, that is o.k. The person
will help identify him or her for you,
Spanish language speakers: 1-877-739-5556
The TTY Message Line is 1-800-89¢
You can fax a message to 1-502
5
? CATHOLIC
’ CONFERENCE
! OF KENTUCKY
1042 Burlington Lane
Frankfort KY 40601
Phone: 502-875-4345
Fax: 502-875-2841
E-mail: eckstaff@ccky.org
Website: http://www.ccky.org
yN
CATHOLIC
CONFERENCE
OF KENTUCKY
What the Catechism
Teaches About the
Death Penalty
Assuming that the
guilty party's identity
and responsibility have
been fully determined,
the traditional teach-
ing of the Church does
not exclude recourse
to the death penalty, if
this is the only possible
way of effectively
defending human lives against the unjust
aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are suffi-
cient to defend and protect people's
safety from the aggressor, authority will
limit itself to such means, as these are
more in keeping with the concrete condi-
tions of the common good and more in
conformity with the dignity of the hu-
man person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of
the possibilities which the state has for
effectively preventing crime, by ren-
dering one who has committed an
offense incapable of doing harm—
without definitively taking away from
him the possibility of redeeming him-
self—the cases in which the execu-
tion of the offender is an absolute
necessity "are very rare, if not prac-
tically non-existent.”
US Conference of Catholic
Bishops: Living the Gos-
pel of Life: A Challenge
to Catholics
Pope John Paul II has reminded us that we must re-
spect every life, even that of criminals and unjust
American
aggressors. It is increasingly clear in modern society
that capital punishment is unnecessary to protect
people's safety and the public order, so that cases
where it may be justified are "very rare, if not prac-
tically non-existent." No matter how serious the
crime, punishment that does not take life is "more in
conformity with the dignity of the human per-
son" (Evangelium Vitae, 56-7). Our witness to re-
spect 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. The antidote to violence is love, not more
violence.
On the Death Sentence for Mr. Timothy
McVeigh, June 13, 1997
On behalf of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Confer-
ence, we wish to express our regret at the sen-
tence of death for Mr. Timothy McVeigh.
The crime for which he has been found guilty is
a horrible and brutal tragedy. We cannot
fathom the loss and grief of the survivors of
those who died and who live with the conse-
quences of his terrible crime. Our thoughts and
prayers remain with them.
We oppose the death penalty not simply be-
cause of what it may mean for one convicted
murderer, but because of what it represents
for our society. The death penalty perpetu-
ates a pervasive cycle of violence and fur-
ther diminishes respect for life. Killing a killer
is no way to stop the killing in our land. Mr.
McVeigh's death will not bring back those he
murdered; it will not heal the wounds which
this evil act inflicted on our land.
Kentucky’s Catholic
Bishops Call for an
End to the Use of the
Death Penalty
The practice of
capital punish-
ment does not
g
foster respect
for human
life. Killing as
a solution
cheapens
The Pursuit of Justice
that respect.
To meet vio- iim.
lence with violence entrenches a
mentality that constricts a society’s
moral imagination to seek alterna-
tives to violent solutions.
Our opposition to capital punish-
ment is inspired by a gospel
value — "no human life, no matter
how wretched or how miserable,
no matter how sinful or lacking in
love, is without worth; no one is
beyond realizing and receiving
Christ's redemptive grace of
conversion at any moment dur-
ing life."
Abolishing capital punishment
would become a step towards
breaking the cycle of violence.
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted