{"id":5766,"date":"2018-08-02T22:15:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T02:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/steelmagnificat\/?p=5766"},"modified":"2018-08-02T22:15:44","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T02:15:44","slug":"why-change-the-catechism-on-the-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/steelmagnificat\/2018\/08\/why-change-the-catechism-on-the-death-penalty\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Change the Catechism on the Death Penalty?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

It has likely come to your attention that the Holy Father has made a change to the Catechism\u2019s passage on the death penalty, and everybody\u2019s got something to say about it. Some people are thrilled. Some people are incensed. Some people curiously are claiming that the Holy Father has no right to change the Catechism. They seem to have forgotten that\u00a0 the Catechism did not come down the mountain inscribed on stone tablets carried by Moses. This catechism was composed in response to a request submitted by the 1985 synod of bishops to Pope Saint John Paul II, issued in 1992 under his direction, and reissued by John Paul II in a revised edition in 1997. He meant for it to be revised. The purpose of the Catechism is to expound the faith. The purpose is revising it is to expound the faith more effectively. Ask JPII if you don\u2019t believe me.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Right and wrong never change, of course. They can\u2019t. But our understanding of what constitutes the right and wrong can evolve. Clarifying and evolving that understanding, and noting the clarification in the Catechism, is one of the things the Magisterium, with the Holy Father right at the top, is supposed to do. Direct killing is always wrong, whereas some things that look like killing, such as self-defense, are permissible in some circumstances. The Pope has further evolved what counts as direct killing and is therefore impermissible.<\/p>\n

The Catechism<\/a> used to read:<\/p>\n

Assuming that the guilty party\u2019s 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people\u2019s 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 to the dignity of the human person.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 \u2013 without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself \u2013 the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity \u201care very rare, if not practically nonexistent.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That version is still what it says online right now, at least as of the time I\u2019m typing these words, and I don\u2019t know when they\u2019re going to change it.<\/p>\n

With the Pope\u2019s amendment, the text will now read:<\/p>\n

Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.<\/em>
\nToday, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.
\nConsequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that \u201cthe death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person\u201d, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, it\u2019s clear from actually reading the text that this isn\u2019t a huge change from what was there before. The death penalty used to be allowed, at least theoretically, in extreme circumstances if it was the only way to protect the public. It was considered a form of defense rather than direct killing in that case. The amendment to the text just points out that such a case doesn\u2019t really exist anymore, rendering the death penalty as it is applied in modern times unnecessary\u2013 and, therefore, forbidden.<\/p>\n

What I want to point out is that we were never allowed to just fry somebody for vengeance, or because the person deserved it. That hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something you\u2019re never allowed to do, because direct killing is always wrong.<\/p>\n

My friend Mark Shea often makes the comparison between people who fearfully ask when we, as Catholics, might \u201chave\u201d to kill somebody and people who excitedly ask when we \u201cget\u2019 to kill somebody\u2013 as though most people are looking for an excuse not to kill and some people are looking for an excuse to kill. That\u2019s a comparison that\u2019s not without its merit. If you frame an ethical question to make it about whom you\u2019re allowed to harm, you\u2019re not being the least bit ethical. A life properly lived shouldn\u2019t be about harming anybody.<\/p>\n

As for me, I have a different way of looking at the same thing. The way I understand the teaching of the Catholic Church, is that you never have<\/em> to kill, nor are you allowed<\/em> to kill, any people, ever. Killing is always wrong. There are a slim number of circumstances wherein it is permissible to respond to a deadly attack against oneself or another with deadly force; if the aggressor dies in that circumstance, you commit no sin. It\u2019s still not a good situation. If the would-be killer lives, that would be much better, because death is always a tragedy and always something to be avoided. Far better, of course, if the situation never occurred in the first place\u2013 a situation where one person attempts to take another\u2019s life is always a tragedy. But at bare minimum if he dies from your act of self-defense, that\u2019s not on you.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If a man breaks into my house to murder me, I may apprehend him at the window and push him back. If he dies in the fall, I didn\u2019t murder him\u2013 he died as a side effect of my act of self-defense. It was his attempt at murder that killed him. I\u2019m not required to feel sad at his death, since feelings aren\u2019t sins, and it might be quite understandable for me to feel relieved. But his death would absolutely be a bad thing. Catholics are supposed to strive for the best thing rather than tolerating the worse tolerable thing. But at minimum, I didn\u2019t sin.<\/p>\n

If Canada declares war on the United States and invades by way of Marblehead over Lake Erie, solemnly declaring they\u2019re going to murder any Ohioans they take prisoner, I may fire up the cannons that stand in the memorial park at Lakeside and try to sink their ships. If anybody drowns in that battle, I didn\u2019t kill them\u2013 they died as a side effect of my act of self-defense. It was their attempt at genocide that killed them. But it\u2019s better if they all swam to safety after the ship sank, because death is always bad. Better still that I get in my rescue boat to save them and take them to the hospital after I\u2019ve neutralized their threat. Better still that they repent of their crimes when they get to shore. Even better yet that they never tried to do such a thing in the first place. Best of all to work for a world where killing is unthinkable. But if someone is already trying to kill you in a war, you do not sin by trying to stop them by fighting back.<\/p>\n

Of course, you don\u2019t have to defend yourself. This is a topic I\u2019d rather not bring up because it scares me. But the example Christ left was to go ahead and allow your enemy to kill you, if that\u2019s what he\u2019s determined to do\u2013 to stretch out your arms on the cross in meekness and forgiveness, because you value your enemy\u2019s life and wouldn\u2019t want to take part in anything as terrible as an act of deadly force, even though you would incur no guilt by doing so. A number of saints<\/a> have followed His example.<\/p>\n

I am not saying what I would do if my life were in danger. I don\u2019t know what<\/em> I would do if my life were in danger. I\u2019d probably give a very cowardly example, so don\u2019t imitate me. I\u2019m saying that, as far as I can tell from Church teaching, from the Gospel and from the examples of the saints, those are our choices. It is always a sin to kill people. It is not a sin to respond to a deadly attack with proportionate force in defense. But the most Christ-like thing, the very best thing you can do in a tragic situation, seems to be to refuse to take part in violence\u2013 to give up your own life rather than respond with deadly force.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how serious death is.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s my point here. Death is always serious and terrible. Direct killing is something that a Catholic must not do.<\/p>\n

The Church has refined her teaching on certain practices we are to avoid so we don\u2019t directly kill anyone. In one sense it\u2019s quite new, but in another it\u2019s not new at all. And by the inner logic of Catholic teaching, it\u2019s long overdue.\u00a0The things that are wrong are still wrong. The things that are best are still best. Our Holy Father has shown us a new way to be in line with the Commandments of God.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a very good thing, believe it or not.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has likely come to your attention that the Holy Father has made a change to the Catechism\u2019s passage on the death penalty, and everybody\u2019s got something to say about it. Some people are thrilled. Some people are incensed. Some people curiously are claiming that the Holy Father has no right to change the Catechism. 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