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Vol. 79, No. 13
Thursday, April 1, 1999
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Contents
Headline Hopscotch ... 2
News 3
Commentary 4-5
Around the Diocese .. 6-7
Faith Alive! 8-9
Notices 10-11
Last But Not Least ... 12
A Good Friday appeal to end the death penalty
By Sister Mary Ann Walsh
Washington
T he U.S. Bishops’ Administrative
Board was to call on the nation’s
more than 60 million Catholics to
fight the death penalty in a Good Fri
day statement.
The 55-member board represents
the nation’s bishops between their
general meetings.
“On this Good Friday, a day when
we recall our Savior’s own execution,
we appeal to all people of goodwill,
and especially Catholics, to work to
end the, death penalty,” they said in a
prepared statement.
The bishops noted Pope John Paul
II’s call for an end to the death penal
ty atChristmas and during his visit to
Saint Louis, January 26-27, as they
urged Catholics and others to give
careful consideration to their own
position on this issue.
Many Catholics are supportive of
capital punishment through an
“understandable fear of crime and
horror at so many innocent lives lost
through criminal violence,” the
churchmen said. They added, howev
er, “we hope they will come to see, as
we have, that more violence is not the
answer.”
The bishops also encouraged Catho
lics “at the forefront of efforts to end
capital punishment at state and nati
onal levels” to continue their witness.
The bishops also said that victims
of violent crime need the support of
the Church, and said they “strongly
encouraged all within the Catholic
community to support victims of
crime and their families.”,
This image of the crucified Christ stands
in the sanctuary of the Cathedral.
“This can be a compassionate associated with the serious injury or
response to the terrible pain and anger murder of a loved one. Our family of
faith must stand with them as they
struggle to overcome their terrible
loss and find some sense of peace,”
they said.
“We see the death penalty as perpet
uating a cycle of violence and promot
ing a sense of vengeance in our culture
... We cannot teach that killing is
wrong by killing,” they said. “The
death penalty offers the tragic illusion
that we can defend life by taking life.”
Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbish
op of Los Angeles and Chairman of
the Bishops’ Committee on Domestic
Policy, was to release the statement at
a Good Friday press conference in
Los Angeles.
The Bishops urged pastors, teachers
and others to preach, educate and
advocate in a “persistent and princi
pled witness against the death penalty.”
“Through education, through advo
cacy, and through prayer and contem
plation on the life of Jesus, we must
commit ourselves to a persistent and
principled witness against the death
penalty, against a culture of death,
and for the Gospel of Life,” the Bish
ops said.
In their Good Friday statement the
bishops also cited a previous docu
ment, their December 1993 statement,
Living the Gospel of Life: A Chal
lenge to American Catholics, and reit
erated the position that “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. The antidote to violence is
love, not more violence.”
Bishops' Administrative Board statement
The U. S,
“The new evangelization calls for followers of
Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will
proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in
every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing
recognition that the dignity of human life must
never he taken away, even in the case of someone
who has done great evil. Modern society has the
means of protecting itself, without definitively deny
ing criminals the chance to reform. 1 renew the
appeal / made most recently at Christmas for a
consensus to end the death penalty, which is both
cruel and unnecessary. ”
— Pope John Paul II, Saint Louis, January 27, 1999
F or more than 25 years, the Catholic bishops of
the United States have called for an end to the
death penalty in our land. Sadly, however, death
sentences and executions in this country continue at
an increasing rate. In some states, there are so many
executions they rarely receive much attention any
more. On this Good Friday, a day when we recall
our Savior’s own execution, we appeal to all people
of goodwill, and especially Catholics, to work to
end the death penalty.
As we approach the next millennium, we are
challenged by the evolution in Catholic teaching on
this subject and encouraged by new and growing
efforts to stop executions around the world.
Through his powerful encyclical, The Gospel of
Life (Evangelium Vitae), Pope John Paul II has
asked that governments stop using death as the ulti
mate penalty. The Holy Father points out that
instances where its application is necessary to pro
tect society have become “very rare, if not practi
cally nonexistent.” In January 1999, our Holy
Father brought his prophetic appeal to end the death
penalty to the United States, clearly challenging us
to “end the death penalty, which is both cruel and
unnecessary.” Our Holy Father has called us with
new urgency to stand against capital punishment.
Sadly, many Americans — including many
(Continued on page 3)