Death Penalty
Background
Assuming that the guilty party's identity and
responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching 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 sufficient 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
conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of
the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities
which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one
who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm without
definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself -
the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute
necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent." (CCC, 2267)
Act:
-Write to your state legislators and urge them to abolish the death penalty.
-Take part in a prayer vigil scheduled the day of an execution.
-Host a Death Penalty workshop at your parish – use the USCCB resource to design a workshop
Links:
USCCB: Capital Punishment
USCCB:
Catholic Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information
Center
Equal Justice Initiative
Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty
Oregonians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Archbishop John Vlazny on the Death Penalty
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A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death
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Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty
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Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice (2000) (Loan Only)
Books
(Loan
Only):
-
The Oregon Death Penalty Document – Rachel Cunliffe Hardesty, 2000
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A Tortured History: The Story of Capital Punishment in Oregon-William R. Long
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Reflections on Dead Man Walking – Sister Helen Prejean, 2000
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Understanding Capital Punishment: A Guide through the Death Penalty Debate – Death Penalty Information Center, 2003
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Choose Life! Building Opposition to the Death Penalty (A comprehensive look at Catholic teaching on the death penalty and offers suggestions for parishes to get involved in this issue). Roundtable, 2000
DVD (Loan
Only):
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A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death. (This video is based on a statement of the same name by the USCCB. Using Catholic Social Teaching as a basis, and weaving in stories of those who have been touched by violence, this video encourages Catholics to fully examine the campaign to abolish the death penalty in the United States. 15 minutes. Instructions to download discussion guides include). USCCB, 2006
Links
