Bud Welch was driving his daughter Julie-Marie home from college when a radio signal drifted over the Iowa plains and started another talk about the big issues in life.<\/p>\n\n
It was a report about another execution in Texas. Welch said his daughter\u2019s response was blunt: \u201cDad, all they\u2019re doing is teaching hate to their children. \u2026 It has no social redeeming value.\u201d This remark was not surprising, since this whole Catholic family was opposed to the death penalty.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think a hell of a lot of it at the time,\u201d admitted the Oklahoma City gas-station owner, in a speech recorded at Harvard University.<\/p>\n\n
But Welch remembered her words after the Oklahoma City Federal Building blast, when he wanted to kill her killers. He wanted vengeance. Later, he realized that what he really wanted was for Timothy McVeigh to repent and somehow honor his victims. McVeigh couldn\u2019t do that if he was dead. Later, Welch promised the bomber\u2019s family he would do what he could to save McVeigh\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n
That\u2019s an inspiring story, but it stirs both anger and appreciation in churches and legislatures. Ask Al Gore. Ask George W. Bush. The death penalty issue just won\u2019t die and there are many good reasons for that, according to Cardinal Roger Mahony. This pope links it to a broader \u201cculture of death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s reflected in our movies and music, our television and video games, in our homes, schools and on our streets. More ominously, our society is tempted to solve some of our more significant social problems with violence,\u201d said Mahony, who leads the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAbortion is promoted to deal with difficult or unwanted pregnancies. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are suggested as a remedy for the burdens of age and illness. Capital punishment is marketed as the answer to deal with violent crime. A nation that destroys its young, abandons its elderly and relies on vengeance is in serious moral trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Mahony admitted, in a National Press Club address, that support for the death penalty unites legions of politicians who rarely agree on anything else. Some people say opposing the death penalty is \u201cliberal,\u201d while others call it \u201cconservative.\u201d In Catholic circles, some insist that abortion and the death penalty are unique and totally separate issues. Others admit they are different, but insist that they share common roots.<\/p>\n\n
The Catholic Catechism of 1997 acknowledges that \u201cthe traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty,\u201d if this is the \u201conly possible way\u201d to effectively defend citizens. However, many Catholics insist this statement must now be read in the light of 1999 statements made by Pope John Paul II.<\/p>\n\n
Today\u2019s church, he said, in St. Louis, needs witnesses \u201cwho are unconditionally pro-life. \u2026 A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Police also have access to remarkable new forms of technology to investigate who is guilty and who is not. But these techniques are often leading to hotter debates, not agreement. This is not a simple left vs. right debate, either.<\/p>\n\n
Conservative pundit George Will recently noted that, in \u201cthe 24 years since the resumption of executions under Supreme Court guidelines, about 620 have occurred, but 87 condemned persons \u2014 one for every seven executed \u2014 had their convictions vacated by exonerating evidence. In eight of these cases \u2026 the evidence was from DNA. One inescapable inference from these numbers is that some of the 620 persons executed were innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
There are 565 inmates on death row in California. The cardinal can do the math.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI believe that the Gospel teaches that people are responsible for their actions,\u201d said Mahony. \u201cI believe that the reality of sin demands that those who injure others must make reparation. But I do not believe that society is made safer, that our communities are made whole, or that our social fabric is strengthened, by killing those who kill others. Instead, the death penalty perpetuates an insidious cycle of violence that \u2026 diminishes all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bud Welch was driving his daughter Julie-Marie home from college when a radio signal drifted over the Iowa plains and started another talk about the big issues in life. It was a report about another execution in Texas. Welch said his daughter\u2019s response was blunt: \u201cDad, all they\u2019re doing is teaching hate to their children. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n