OKLAHOMA CITY — Last week, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin struggled to defend the state’s April 29 execution of death-row inmate Clayton Lockett after witnesses reported that he moaned and convulsed before he died, following the administration of a sedative and a lethal injection.
“I believe in the legal process. And I believe that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men and women,” said Fallin, who announced a stay on the second execution planned for the same evening and an “independent review of Department of Correction procedures.”
But Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City condemned the execution and said the news story “really highlights the brutality of the death penalty, and I hope it leads us to consider whether we should adopt a moratorium on the death penalty or even abolish it altogether.”
Judging from public-opinion polls, many Americans, including Catholics, agree with Fallin’s view that retribution for especially grave crimes demands the death penalty, though a 2013 study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that support for capital punishment is sliding.
Lockett, 38, was convicted of rape and murder — and watching while his accomplices buried his victim alive. Archbishop Coakley did not deny the need “to administer justice with due consideration for the victims of crime.”
But, he argued, society and the criminal-justice system should not adopt practices that advance “the culture of death, which threatens to completely erode our sense of the innate dignity of the human person and of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.”
“Once we recover our understanding that life is a gift from our Creator, wholly unearned and wholly unmerited by any of us, we will begin to recognize that there are and ought to be very strict limits to the legitimate use of the death penalty,” he added.
Archbishop Coakley’s April 30 statement drew criticism from many Oklahomans, including members of his flock, who attacked his comments on Facebook and other forums.
During an interview with the Register, the archbishop acknowledged that “many of the people who reacted rather negatively to my statement and proposed arguments in favor of capital punishment cited legitimate authorities in our Tradition” to bolster their argument, a reference to St. Thomas Aquinas, who justified the use of the death penalty to protect the common good.
“But no one made reference to Evangelium Vitae or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which present a much more nuanced teaching than either side of the argument will acknowledge,” he noted.
Church’s Nuanced Teaching
The archbishop’s comments reflected the decisive impact of St. John Paul II on Church teaching on the morality of capital punishment. In his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), he upheld the right of the state to impose the death penalty, but concluded that cases where capital punishment was morally justified “are very rare, if not practically non-existent,” due to “steady improvements in the organization of the penal code.”
The state, he wrote, “ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender, except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society.”
The Catechism further states, “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 to the dignity of the human person” (2267).
Church leaders and Catholic theologians credit this passage from Evangelium Vitae, which was incorporated into the Catechism, as a new development of Catholic teaching, though not a repudiation of the Church’s previous acceptance of the practice.
But while John Paul has inspired Church leaders like Archbishop Coakley to push for a broad reassessment of the use of the death penalty, many Catholics are confused about what the Church actually teaches and know little of the moral reasoning that guided the late pope’s judgment.
A Tradition of Support
Catholic resistance to the Church’s relatively new stance on this issue, say some experts, is further complicated by the fact that many opponents of capital punishment part ways from the Church on other life issues.
“Historically, the Church has viewed the death penalty as a form of justifiable homicide. Only in the last 30 years has the Church begun to speak out against it,” noted E. Christian Brugger, the author of Capital Punishment and Catholic Moral Tradition, who has completed a second edition of his book that includes the contribution of Pope Benedict XVI.
He noted, however, that in the early Church, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen and Cyprian of Carthage, all Fathers of the Church, "taught that Christians could have nothing to do with the sentencing or carrying out of capital punishments," but, over time, that teaching changed.
Now, the Church’s incorporation of John Paul's moral reasoning on this matter has prompted some Catholics to ask, “How, at one time, could we have defended, and even been complicit in, a practice and now speak out in a compelling way against it?” said Brugger, a senior fellow at the Culture of Life Foundation in Washington.
For some, the confusion is deepened by the fact that many secular critics of the death penalty, like the American Civil Liberties Union, reject the Church’s position on other life issues like abortion.
“Many Catholics tend to associate abolition of the death penalty with the faulty moral reasoning that stands behind a permissive mentality, and that raises the question: Are we going in the right direction?” said Brugger, who noted that the early Christians opposed the death penalty, but the Church gradually accommodated the practice.
Traditionally, Catholic teaching on capital punishment has incorporated four specific goals: retribution, defense of society, deterrence and rehabilitation.
But St. John Paul II determined that the practice could only be morally justified when the defense of society and retribution are both secured. He further argued that modern states could protect society without recourse to the death penalty.
Ongoing Debate
Meanwhile, many secular opponents of capital punishment argue that the death penalty poses a range of moral, legal and practical problems, from the costs associated with such cases to the disproportionate number of black offenders on death row.
After Lockett’s execution, President Obama affirmed his support for capital punishment in certain cases, but said he had asked the attorney general to review the imposition of the death penalty in the states that permit it.
Cara Drinan, an associate professor of law at The Catholic University of America, told the Register that in the past four decades, since the death penalty was reinstated, “there have been four fault lines in the debate”: racism influencing the prosecution and sentencing process, false convictions, offenders who are mentally handicapped or mentally ill and the high costs associated with capital cases.
“For decades, Justice [Antonin] Scalia was famous for saying that no innocent person has been executed. But, in recent years, because of the Innocence Project, people have been exonerated,” Drinan noted.
Some legal experts also assert that the use of lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
But Drinan suggested that a fresh legal challenge based on the Eighth Amendment was unlikely to succeed on the merits, given a 2008 U.S. Supreme ruling that found that the use of lethal injection in a Kentucky execution was constitutional.
The “Constitution does not demand the avoidance of all risk of pain in carrying out executions,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in that ruling.
Death-Penalty Critics
In contrast, European nations have moved away from the practice and now sharply criticize the acceptance of capital punishment in the United States.
International human-rights groups like Amnesty International, a leading global opponent of the death penalty, have condemned the Oklahoma execution as “cruel” and “inhumane.”
Amnesty International reports that 141 countries do not permit the death penalty, and 18 U.S. states do not allow it. The organization also reported that, in the past 14 years, executions in the United States have declined from 150 in 2000 to 39 executions last year.
That news will give hope to Catholic leaders like Archbishop Coakley, who acknowledged that the Church must do more to educate believers — and the general public — about the nuances of Catholic teaching on the death penalty.
“The Catechism says that the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude the death penalty. We don’t categorically deny the right of the state to use the death penalty,” Archbishop Coakley told the Register. “But what is happening is that, in many states, the courts are resorting to the death penalty without any legitimate need to do so and without acknowledging that there are other ways to defend society.”
Archbishop Coakley said that the criticism of his statement condemning the execution taught him that Catholic leaders must do more to explain the rationale behind St. John Paul II’s teaching. He also expressed his wish that the mishandled execution, and the delay of the second planned execution, might result in a moratorium on the death penalty and “give the citizens of this state an opportunity to ask, ‘Is this something we want to be doing?’” he said. “I am not sure we’ll get there, but I hope so.”
Joan Frawley Desmond is the Register’s senior editor.
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Well said, Grey Bear.
Lets save our outrage for the daily slaughter of over 4,000 innocent babies instead of getting lathered up over a convicted fiend ! The death penalty is legal & is allowed according to the Catechism. Sad how those opposed to the death penalty usually approve & vote for Pro-ABORTIONIST !
I have thought for many years now the the only “real” reform of Capital Punishment is to do way with the multiple appeals that delay the so-call penalty of death for these criminals who are living high on the hog off the tax payers. One appeal and if that fails than the penalty is enforced. Plus I would like all of these criminal right groups who call the capital penalty cruel and unusual punishment to have to go through the pain and suffering the true victims go through everyday with the love ones that were taken out of the world by the acts of the criminals who are still living. I truly think that id capital was done correctly it would be if you kill someone in a certain way you would be killed exactly like that after one appeal.
Gary and others - The very best way to educate others is to actively encourage them to read a Catholic Bible and to study the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition”.
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The entire Doctrine of the Faith which all Catholics are required to adhere to is contained in the CCC.
It includes but is not limited to: death penalty, just war, abortion, contraception, euthanasia, palliative care, organ donation, homosexual acts, fornication, adultery, responsibility of parents, voting responsibility, immigrants requirement to obey the laws of the host country, precepts of the Church, etc. etc. etc.
The footnotes all refer back to the Bible or other Church Documents.
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No Catholic home should be without a Bible and a CCC. Give them as gifts to family members. If you have non-Catholic family members give these to them as well - merely stating that if they want to know what the Catholic Church really teaches its in this book (CCC).
These gifts may collect dust on their book shelves for a while, but with prayer you never know when they will decide to look something up.
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Why is it important for the rest of us? - - - for ACCURACY without human error - accidental error or purposeful error.
Even some high ranking Clergy and the USCCB Committees from time to time will state something that is not fully in accord with Church teaching - and then you do not have to adhere to what is being said.
I agree with the AB when he says “we need to do more to educate believers.” I think if we had been doing this in other areas such as abortion, so called same-sex marriage, contraception, shacking up, and on and on we might not be where we are today with the majority of Catholics in favor of these issues. I hope the good AB feels as strongly about these issues as he does the death penalty.
@Tom - “...and that we should avoid, if we can, the finality of execution when there is a possibility of conversion of a convict’s soul.”
There is no better motivation for repenting and conversion than knowing the exact day and hour of your death.
@ANNE: But the part about “the possibilities which the state has” is not actually ABOUT faith or morals—the sole grounds of Papal infallibility—but about the actual capabilities of real institutions that exist in the world. On that, a mere matter of FACT, the Pope has no more authority than any other learned person, and much less than people who are actually experts on criminology and corrections.
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The only infallible part of the Pope’s statement is, essentially, “It’s wrong to execute people when you don’t have to.” Which, I mean, no kidding; it’s these insights beyond the reach of the unaided human reason that make us glad we have the teaching charism of the Chair of Peter! Whether a given community actually DOES have to execute is COMPLETELY open to “prudential judgment”, and not only the Catechism, but even a full Ecumenical Council that somehow manages to get even the Orthodox to attend, has absolutely no authority to speak on the matter.
bill, some people follow heretics and schismatics which are usually far left and far right. Others follow the Doctrine of the Faith as contained in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Editon”.
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The CCC is very clear, and without error.
Those who do not read the Bible and the CCC at home on their own time - can be lead anywhere.
your comment tally differs from actual comments ...15 vs 5
This is why we must use the CCC for truth of the Doctrine of the Faith.
The CCC is what was promulgated by Pope John Paul II, as containing Doctrine of the Faith and is part of the Apostolic Constitution - without error.
Clearly the State does not have the where-with-all to provide each very dangerous person a private cell, with private guards and other private facilities, - if the State is to take care of its other obligations to society.
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The Church does not prohibit the death penalty in all cases.
Judgment and common sense must be used.
The CCC is written for all Catholics around the world (not merely the USA).
CCC: “2267 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 are more in conformity to 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 definitely 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 non-existent.”
It was a Church mistake to support burning heretics in Exsurge Domini in 1520. And it is a mistake now in Evangelium Vitae and the catechism to say execution is rarely necessary. According to Joanna M. Shepherd the rare execution is totally ineffective. Executions save future victim lives ( 3-18 per execution) when done non rarely only, so that they inspire fear. The rare execution does not inspire fear. The U.S. Supreme Court stopped its moratorium on the death penalty because of research like Shepherds. They noted that executions deter or prevent not passion murders but premeditated murders. In Acts 5 the first Pope with God executed Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit. St. John Paul never quotes that, never quotes Romans 13:4, never quotes Gen.9:5-6 because they refute his orientation. There are six Catholic countries in the top 20 worst murder rate countries on earth and they have no death penalty. Japan with a death penalty is safer than almost every Catholic country on earth and it is 60 times safer than the two largest Catholic populations…Mexico and Brazil.
At least the state didn’t shoot him and then bury him alive like he did his victim.
All that stuff about the death penalty only being used as a last alternative was added to the latest Catechism
at the insistent requesting of St Prejean (remember her character played
by Susan Sarandon in the movie Dead Man Walking with Sean Penn?)
Sr. Prejean is a frequent guest speaker at Democratic Party gatherings including
the 2008 convention for Obama’s initial election.
As a new convert, I tried to watch that movie hoping my
heart would miraculously change on this issue. By the
end of the movie I was ready to start Sean Penn’s IV and administer
the lethal injection myself.
God have mercy on my soul.
Kim, RN
@Tom in AZ, “...so Black America actually makes up ‘the largest single group in the pro-abortion Democratic Party’”
2012 election - Catholics made up 25% of electorate. 50% of them voted for Obama. 32,570,087 x 50% = 16,286,543 for Obama. Black turn out was
17.8 million x 95% vote for Obama = 16,910,000. In 2008, Catholics gave Obama 54% of their vote. If Catholic turnout was the same in ‘08 as in ‘12 that would have been 17,587,846 Catholic votes to elect the first pro-abortion, pro-infanticide President ever. Black turnout in ’08 was lower than in 2012. I’m not going to quibble about several hundred thousand votes in the last Presidential election. Take the color of Obama’s skin out of the equation; Blacks come in second to Catholics in voting for the pro-abortion party.
I understand why blacks support the Democratic Party, especially the last two Presidential elections. My issue is how those Catholics, including the clergy (half of whom who are registered to vote, endorse the pro-abortion Democrat party with their name and support) - my issue is how THEY support that worldly organization that is diabolically opposed to what they say they believe and pray for. It is “particularly a sin” against the 5th Commandment, according to Catholic teaching, to “join an organization that supports and promotes the denial of human rights, like the Nazi Party or the KKK.” The Democratic Party is the only party in the U.S. that promotes and denies the right to life of the unborn. That is far more an intrinsic evil in that it murders innocent human life created by God in such numbers that exceed all those killed under Nazis and KKK activity. A lot of Catholic Democrats, including Cardinals, bishops and priest are going find themselves lined up on the left side of Jesus when He returns to judge the nations, they will be screaming when they hear their judgment, that they helped the poor and the immigrants, etc, etc,etc, and Jesus will say - “I never knew you.”
I’m trying to keep that from happening, by warning my brothers and sisters of what they are doing. It is going to be far more horrendous for the bishops and clergy who are leading their sheep into damnation, than it is going to be for the sheep. But, in either case, it isn’t necessary to happen. All those Catholics have to do is remove their name and stop supporting the pro-abortion, pro-gay “marriage” Democratic Party. Practice what you say you believe and pray for – or face damnation – the choice is yours.
This article does a good job of highlighting something that has often troubled me about Catholic discussion of capital punishment: those opposed to it often conflate it with the categorical “no” we must give to abortion, when the Church’s teaching on it is quite a bit more nuanced. This does injustice to the Church’s teaching as well as to those we wish to teach.
I am also troubled by the classification of capital punishment as an instrument of retribution, and not an instrument of justice. Retribution may not be Christ-like, but my question is, can we really have a just society if there is no crime so heinous that one should lose their life for committing it? I wish our Bishops and the Holy See would address that.
Having said all that, I am still sympathetic to arguments that errors might be made and that we should avoid, if we can, the finality of execution when there is a possibility of conversion of a convict’s soul. Were I the governor of a state, I might issue an executive order staying all executions, to be rescinded in cases in which individuals have proven themselves too dangerous to other inmates or prison staff by committing more violent crimes in prison.
@ANNE: The idea that “revenge must never be a consideration” is like “sex ONLY for procreation”. The reality is that, just as sex has a procreative aspect AND a unitive one, execution (and all other judicial punishment for that matter) has a defensive aspect AND a retributive one. Retribution HAS to be a consideration, otherwise we could execute ANYONE who is “a threat to society”, even if they haven’t done anything yet. The correct standard is “one can only execute those whose ACTIONS, already taken, warrant it, if they show signs of continuing to be a threat to others”.
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And of course, the idea that cases for the need of execution “are very rare, if not practically non-existent”, because of “the means at the State’s disposal to effectively repress crime”...doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny. Our prisons have THE highest rate of rape of any part of American society (currently in America, males are raped more often than females, SOLELY because of prisons), while their murder-rates are second only to the very highest inner-city murder rates. Those criminals have certainly not been rendered “inoffensive”. (And that’s America, a first-world country that spends millions on its prisons. Try telling the Congo it has sufficient resources to abolish capital punishment!)
When it comes to the Doctrine of the Faith, I always smile about those who wish to become “little popes”, and think they know more than the Church does, and would rather have us all follow them.
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All Catholics are required to adhere to the CCC in entirety which was promulgated by Apostolic Constitution and contains the Doctrine of the Faith.-(Faith and Morals). (You will find this in the front of your CCC.)
St. JPII, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have asked us all to study the CCC. For more info on the internet go to: “What Catholics REALLY Believe SOURCE”.
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There are heretics and schismatics on the far right and the far left. If Jesus is not Tradition with a capital “T”, I don’t know what tradition is.
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Mt 5:38-39
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;” - JESUS.
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Go back and read the post from the CCC, - - the death penalty is permitted under rare circumstances, to protect others from an unjust aggressor.
The death penalty is not prohibited.
“Thou shall not kill.” - God’s Commandment from Genesis - really old tradition.
@Stilbelieve: Catholics are far less lock-step in their support of the Democratic Party than Black Americans are—there are twice as many Catholic Americans as Black Americans (only 5% of Blacks are Catholic so there’s little overlap), but Black American support for the Dems is almost unanimous, so Black America actually makes up “the largest single group in the pro-abortion Democratic Party”. This despite abortion disproportionately affecting Blacks; read Margaret Sanger for the rationale involved.
Capital punishment applied to the unborn in this country, Tom, is far worse than what goes on in Mexico. America is a big consumer of illegal drugs so those without a conscience will serve the consumer and run all over those who oppose them. Death penalty or No death penalty in Mexico has no affect on these people. The all think they are smarter and won’t get caught.
“But St. John Paul II determined that the practice could only be morally justified when the defense of society and retribution, properly understood as the restoration of the order of justice, are both secured. He further argued that modern states could protect society without recourse to the death penalty.”
John Paul II changed Church teaching on the Death Penalty based on an ASSUMPTION that “modern states could protect society without recourse to the death penalty.” Where is his evidence that is true? NOT ONCE has anyone in the Church presented evidence proving John Paul II’s assumption is factual. JP II’s position also allows for non “modern states” to continue executing capital offenders. California is a “modern state,” but a 3-year investigation of CA’s “most secure prison” costing $5,000,000 involving Federal prosecutors, State Correctional officials and local police say, “...hundreds of murders have been orchestrated from inside maximum-security prisons. The Corrections Department say there’s little it can do to stop the killings, ordered by inmates who have nothing to lose and nothing but time (on their hands).” (“Operation Black Widow” at Pelican Bay Prison)
So, if California Corrections Department says they cannot stop the murders and crimes outside prison walls ordered by life-time prisoners housed in solitary confinement, then how can the Catholic Church be trying to end CP in CA and elsewhere? WHERE IS THE BISHOPS’ EVIDENCE INNOCENT HUMAN LIFE CAN BE PROTECTED OUTSIDE PRISON WALLS IN MODERN STATES??? Stop playing games with the “life issue;” you are risking your credibility on other real life issues like abortion. Capital punishment is not a sin, nor will it ever be a sin, unlike the intrinsic evils we should be united in fighting. Get back to saving the souls of your sheep, and perhaps your own, by holding a mirror up to them and yourself to see if they and you really believe God is the creator of life, and you really want God’s “will be done on earth,” and they and you really do obey the Greatest Commandment “to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” If looking at yourselves in the mirror, you can say you really do obey the Great Commandment, and believe what you say and pray for - then how come over half of Catholics, and perhaps, you yourself, endorse with your name and support a worldly organization that is diabolically opposed to what you believe and pray for - the pro-abortion Democratic Party – which is solely responsible for the 57,000,000 murdered babies in America, and still counting with no end in sight?
“But, he argued, society and the criminal-justice system should not adopt practices that advance ‘the culture of death, which threatens to completely erode our sense of the innate dignity of the human person and of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.’”
Then Catholics, including the clergy, should remove their name endorsement and support from the Democratic pro-abortion Party; that would be the end of the party responsible for the “culture of death.” Catholics are the largest single group in the pro-abortion Democratic Party, giving it the ELECTORAL POWER to keep abortion-on-demand the law-of-the-land, now reaching 57,000,000 murdered babies.
The ‘Anti-Justice’ crowd has tried to frame the act of justice of Capital Punishment as ‘Revenge’. God in the Book of Genesis Chapter 9 verse 6 makes it quite clear about people who murder others. “Your life will be required of you”. The heinous monster, who all these self sanctimonious people are crying over, committed a heinous crime of brutal rape and torture. This monster got off easy for his crime. I know many Liberals who whine and cry over the ‘Poor’ criminals and how inhumane it is to incarcerate them never mind execute them. These people are responsible for our violent society and the degenerate state our nation is in.
The Universal Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas said it was permissible, and the Moral Doctor St. Alphonsus Liguori also says it’s permissible. Another symptom of teh abandonment of Scholasticism and Liguorian moral theology for Kantian Phenomenology and Immanentism.
It is not possible to address every point in the article in such a short space but a few things come immediately to mind. Members of the clergy, including writers of the Catechism, are attempting to change traditional Church teaching. It is called punishment for a reason; that the crime is so serious that the perpetrator forfeits what he has taken. Ignored is the fact that when capital punishment is PROPERLY, used, it has a salutory effect on those contemplating homicidal acts. Finally, not a word sbout Clyton Lockett’s crime was cited, probably because the details could not be printed in a general circulation publication. If the method of execution offends the sensibilities of the sqeamish, the Chince method can be employed; cheap, effective and painless.
I don’t find the Church’s teaching on the death penalty confusing.
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CCC: ” 2267 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 are more in conformity to 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 definitely 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 non-existent.”
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With today’s forensic science, the likelihood of an “innocent” being executed is almost non-existent.
Using FBI numbers, I suppose based upon the number of murderers and rapists and torturers in jail, one could debate if the death penalty in the USA is “rare”.
In the USA how much time does the guilty person have to “repent” of his sins if he chooses to do so prior to execution? - Usually years with plenty of time to think.
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When society places anyone in jail, they must protect all those in jail and all the employees at the jail from unjust aggressors as well.
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“Revenge” must never be a consideration.
The death penalty must always be for the protection of all others - all others both outside and inside of jail.
Abolishing capital punishment has sure reversed the cheapening of human life in Mexico, right?
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