At Catholic World Report Carl Olsen takes the Catholic publications to task who recently scolded the country and the courts on the death penalty, all in the name of the Church.
Three things stand out to me on reading the editorial. First, the use of “must end,” rather than “should end.” There is an obvious sense of moral absoluteness in the headline, and it is carried further in the text, which says of capital punishment: “The practice is abhorrent and unnecessary.” Those adjectives are dubious, to put it mildly. The use of “abhorrent” is especially strange considering the word conjures up a clear sense of objective evil, even though capital punishment, when administered lawfully, prudentially, and proportionally, is nothing of the sort.
Secondly, the arguments presented are essentially utilitarian or emotional in nature, and no mention is made of the reasons, based in the Church’s social teaching, that have traditionally (and consistently) been given in support of capital punishment. Dr. Steven Long, professor of theology at Ave Maria University, brings attention to this fact in a post at Thomistica.net:
Are the editors of the journals involved–or the bishops who so commonly describe the death penalty as contrary to human dignity as though it were a malum in se–familiar with the work of the late Eminence Cardinal Avery Dulles on this question? Or the teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church? Hundreds of years of Catholic teaching in conformity with the teaching of the Fathers and Doctors has acknowledged that implementing the penalty is a prudential matter and that the penalty is essentially valid. Pope Piux XII taught that the penalty is valid across cultures. The wisdom of applying this penalty is essentially a prudential matter. But as prudential there is no such thing as “de facto abolition” since circumstances change, and–again, contrary to the journals and the new enthusiasm–deterrence is a necessary and essential part of criminal justice.
After walking through other published reactions to the joint appeal, Olsen reiterates his frustration with such un-Catholic moral posturing.
Finally, I want to point out that my 2012 article was not an argument for or against the death penalty, but rather a work outlining what the Church has taught and does teach about the topic. And yet I was criticized, in the comments, for being both too pro-capital punishment and too anti-capital punishment. Perhaps the problem is that for the majority of people this is an all-or-nothing topic, yet the Church’s tradition and teaching are not easily or rightly shoved into either extreme.
(And, to state what should be obvious, but might not be: the matter of the death penalty is distinctly different from the matters of abortion, assisted suicide, and other grave evils that are, by their very nature, immoral. The death penalty can be misused and abused, and there are substantial arguments that can and have been made for using it rarely or not at all, but it is not, in itself, immoral.)
I am, in fact, sympathetic to the call to abolish the death penalty, but I think there are good, cogent, and objective reasons to allow for it in certain situations and in certain places, in accordance with what the tradition and Catechism state. What I find bothersome, again, is the note of moral superiority taken by some who insist the death penalty must be abolished, a note that is decidedly strident and off-putting compared to the careful, rich, and even-handed teachings found in Catholic social doctrine.
Clergy and professional ‘c’atholics abusing the divine credibility of the Church to build up the state and it’s faithless agenda are marks of our time. For many years now we have expected this kind of thing from the once-condemned America Magazine and the National Catholic Reporter. What’s new is their partnering with formerly reliable sources like EWTN and the National Catholic Register. Who do you think blinked?
What are the faithful to believe when the unprecedented abdication of a good pope and the appearance of his replacement lead to honors and support for dissident media? Must we all close our eyes and change our Faith into something worse now?