Posted on 03/23/2005 12:34:45 PM PST by siunevada
Groundbreaking Zogby Poll Demonstrates Dramatic Rise in Catholic Opposition to Use of the Death Penalty
WASHINGTON (March 21, 2005)—The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops today launched a Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, declared, “We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. We cannot defend life by taking life.” Speaking at the National Press Club on behalf of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Cardinal McCarrick said, “The Catholic campaign will work to change the debate and decisions on the use of the death penalty: building a constituency for life, not death; calling on our lawmakers to lead, not follow; to defend life, not take it away. . . . This cause is not new. Our bishops’ conference has opposed the death penalty for 25 years. But this campaign is new. It brings greater urgency and unity, increased energy and advocacy, and a renewed call to our people and to our leaders to end the use of the death penalty in our nation.”
At the press conference, noted pollster John Zogby reported on an unprecedented survey of Catholic attitudes on the death penalty: “We found that support for the use of the death penalty among American Catholics has plunged in the past few years. The intensity of support has declined as well. In past surveys, Catholic support for the death penalty was as high as 68%. In our November survey, we found that less than half of the Catholic adults in our poll (48%) now support the use of the death penalty, while 47% oppose it. The percentage of Catholics who are intensely supportive of the death penalty has been halved, from a high of 40% to 20% in this survey.” Zogby also reported that:
* The more often Catholics attend Mass, the less likely they are to support the use of the death penalty.
* The younger Catholics are, the less likely they are to support the death penalty.
* A third of Catholics who once supported the use of the death penalty now oppose it.
Among the major reasons Catholics gave for opposing the use of the death penalty was “respect for life.” Two of three (63%) Catholics are deeply concerned about what the use of the death penalty “does to us as a people and a country,” according to the surveys. (The charts used in the presentation are attached to this press release.)
Cardinal McCarrick emphasized the Church’s commitment to victims of violence and their families as a central part of the campaign. Bud Welch, whose daughter Julie Marie was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, made an impassioned plea: “My conviction is simple: More violence is not what Julie would have wanted. More violence will not bring Julie back. More violence only makes our society more violent. The Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty is another way for the Church to say no to more violence and no to our culture of death.”
Cardinal McCarrick said the campaign is about “justice. . . . The death penalty in our land is deeply flawed.” Demonstrating this reality, Kirk Bloodsworth told his story of coming into the Catholic faith on death row: “I spent eight years, 11 months and 19 days behind bars before DNA testing proved my innocence. Since 1973, more than 100 people have been exonerated from death row after being cleared of their charges. . . . Every bit of my story exemplifies the problems in the death penalty system. The same systemic flaws that led to my wrongful conviction . . . plague the cases of innocent people in prison and on death row.” Cardinal McCarrick said, “the use of the death penalty cannot really be mended, it must be ended.”
The Catholic Campaign, according to the Cardinal will “educate — in our parishes and schools, universities and seminaries. We need to share Catholic teaching with courage and clarity, reaching out to those who teach our children, write our textbooks, form our priests, and preach in our pulpits. This is a work of formation and persuasion, not simply proclamation. … The Catholic campaign will act — with continued advocacy in the Congress and state legislatures, in our legal briefs and before the courts. . . . This is just a beginning.”
The Catholic campaign has a new website www.ccedp.org, which includes a basic brochure, clear explanation of the Church’s teaching, and resources for education and action. It includes the many statements of bishops around the country (e.g., powerful statements just in the past week by Archbishop Chaput of Denver and Bishop Wuerl of Pittsburgh ). It will include lesson plans for Catholic schools and religious education, action alerts, and tools for advocacy.
Cardinal McCarrick pointed out this campaign brings the Church together. Gail Quinn, Executive Director of the Secretariat for Pro Life Activities, welcomed the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. Ms. Quinn said, “This cause unites our pro life and social justice convictions in defense of human life and dignity. We are called to respect human life in all stages, and in all circumstances. I hope that Catholics will increasingly speak to their belief that the use of the death penalty in this nation must cease. We pledge to be an integral part of carrying out this campaign”
Cardinal McCarrick, once a supporter of the death penalty, concluded his statement by saying, “I’m not a young man. But as a pastor, teacher, and citizen, I hope I will see the day when the nation I love no longer relies on violence to confront violence. I pray I will see the day when we have given up the illusion that we can teach that killing is wrong by killing.”
For additional information go to www.ccedp.org.
OK...does THIS have anything to do with feeding tubes?
They roll out this crap when they should be down in Florida getting themselves arrested by trying to bring Terri Schiavo a cup of water.
McCarrick again. Jeez. When are the faithful bishops going to get their due? The death penalty is not one of the things they should really be worried about. Teaching the concept of sin might be a place to start.
**They roll out this crap when they should be down in Florida getting themselves arrested by trying to bring Terri Schiavo a cup of water.**
Amen to that!
A thesis could be written on the moral confusion exhibited in this statement. No one who could utter such banality has any claim to ethical leadership. The impotence of current American Catholic bishops augurs a dim future for their flock.
The Traditional Magisterial teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on the Death Penalty From The Catechism of Trent:
Execution Of Criminals
Another kind of lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to whom is entrusted power of life and death, by the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. The just use of this power, far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this Commandment which prohibits murder. The end of the Commandment is the preservation and security of human life. Now the punishments inflicted by the civil authority, which is the legitimate avenger of crime, naturally tend to this end, since they give security to life by repressing outrage and violence. Hence these words of David: In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land, that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.
What these bishops are campaigning for is their own personal humanist agenda completely NOT binding on the faithful, especially when at odds with Magisterial teaching.
Just the vocal ones in their 70's, for the most part. The younger ones coming up through the ranks are different.
Too bad someone hasn't thought to start a thread about Terri, so you could post on it instead of this one.
In the meantime, I'm very happy to see the Bishops taking this more public position.
Today? TODAY???
While Terri Schiavo, an innocent, is being executed, they've chosen a disgusting point in time to make their case.
May God have mercy on their souls.
The Church knows that there is a worse fate than suffering death, like going to hell. The supreme law of the Church is the salvation of souls, not eliminating all suffering. However many of our Bishops do not seem to believe in hell anymore. They are pushing a purely humanistic agenda that makes this life on earth the supreme good, not God, not heaven.
Actually I have, so my comment was unfair, but the Catholics worry me sometimes. I'm an Episcopalian and although I haven't yet felt that God wants me to leave my church, I know that the time may come when I do, and if that time comes, the only place for me to go is to the Catholics. So, I watch the Catholic church closely, and am bothered when I hear teachings that, to my reading, are unbiblical.
The doctrine posted in #47 sounds much more biblical to me.
Other major teachings that bother me:
1) the celibate priesthood, which stands in opposition both to the teachings in Timothy, about church leaders being the husband of one wife and to the whole of the Old Testament, where the clan chosen to be the priests, the Levites, clearly married and reproduced. We have seen some consequences to the celibate priesthood in our times that have not been a problem among other Christian denominations with married priests.
2) the prohibition on artificial birth control in marriage, even when used not to prevent pregnancy altogether but merely to space children better, or to limit the number of children for economic or other reasons. I have read on the natural family planning method, and when used well it has a success rate almost equal to artificial methods, but that almost makes the prohibition worse-- it becomes a picayune, legalistic quibble. (My childbearing years are over, but I can't see supporting and defending a position that I wouldn't abide by.) The proper use of birth control in marriage has been nothing but a benefit to women as well as to men and to marriage-- rather than having a dozen or more children, being always pregnant, and eventually dying young, either in childbirth or from being worn-out from too many pregnancies and the poverty that so often brought, today couples can have marriages full of abundant sexuality along with the right number of children for the woman's physique and the family's resources. Artificial birth control seems to me to be very much a part of God's plan for us, but like anything else, it comes with the requirement to use it properly.
At any rate, the Catholics get so much more right than wrong, and considering the state of other churches, it seems petty to quibble with them, but I do hope that within my lifetime the church sees fit to change these doctrines.
The argument that innocent people may sometimes be executed does not necessarily contradict the general good to society of the death penalty (where prisoners can't be confined safely for life), since murderers who aren't executed often kill innocent people also. Innocent people may be executed and innocent people may die at the hands of convicted murderers who aren't executed.
There is, however, the matter of degree here, with respect to the overall societal good. Many more resources should be devoted to fighting the evil of abortion, which kills millions of children annually, than should be devoted to fighting the death penalty, which kills less than 100 (?) annually.
I disagree, The Archdiocese of Boston changed its toon when donations fell after Cardnal Law refused to address the Priest Sex Abuse scandel, it even resulted in Law's "retirement" after the Faithful found out their donations were going to pay hush money claims.
Cut off the money, they will be very open to your point of view.
If they were foolish enough to take the position you propose it would expose them for what they have become, and they too would be "retiring" very quickly, and the Church would again exercise it moral authoriety.
I'm just glad to see that with rampant divorce, homosexuality, euthanasia and pornography addiction everywhere, the U.S. Bishops are finally dedicating their energy and efforts to a cause that is the most important and monumental in the U.S. and Western World.
The cause against exacting justice for convicted murderers. Now that is surely the most burning issue.
/SARCASM!
Hey, join the club. No one worries more about our fellow Catholics, especially our bishops and cardinals, than other Catholics. ;-)
but I do hope that within my lifetime the church sees fit to change these doctrines.
This would be a false hope, because doctrine cannot change (no matter how many "Catholics" think it may). Truth does not change. However, should there be any pronouncement that doctrine has changed by a future pope, be really worried because that would mean the true Catholic Church has been usurped by apostates.
I pray that God grants you the grace to remove all obstacles and difficulties you have with the doctrines of the Church instead.
It is true that the pope has expressed this opinion, but this is not the Traditional mind of the Church, it is humanistic. See post 52. Although societies may be able to better confine those who would endanger it, that is not the sole purpose of the death penalty according to the mind of the Church. The circumstances of the Four Last Things certainly have not changed.
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