Dignity and the Death Penalty: Evolution of Catholic Teaching SAMPLE

Based on the insights of Sister Helen Prejean

Dignity and the Death Penalty EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC TEACHING

Alice Hugh Brown

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction

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SESSIONS

1

1.

Dead Man Walking

1

2.

A Discussion on Life and Death

6

3.

To Kill or Not to Kill?

16

4.

Disparities in Criminal Justice

26

5.

Death Penalty: We Can Do Better

36

6.

Paying a Just Debt

45

7.

Moving Forward: Restorative Justice

54

About the Author

65

APPENDICES

66

1.

Revision of the Catechism

66

2.

A Daily Prayer for Justice and Mercy

67

3.

Writing to a person in prison

68

Resources

70

Endnotes

76

Introduction In the summer of 2018, Pope Francis further developed Catholic teaching on the death penalty, describing the practice as “inadmissible” under contemporary conditions. As I write this, two years later, thousands of people are on death row in the United States.

Clearly, there is much more to be done.

The modern Catholic Church has opposed capital punishment at least since the papacy of Paul VI, but the Church has always allowed for circumstances that justified execution of dangerous offenders. After a revision in 1997, for example, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, pointed out that “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.” The Catechism continued to say that if “non-lethal means” were sufficient to protect people, the state should limit itself to those means, adding that because of modern ways of preventing crime and containing dangerous individuals, “the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity ‘are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’”1 And in the summer of 2018, Pope Francis further advanced Catholic teaching by approving new language in the Catechism stating that, under present circumstances, “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

By approving the new language in the Catechism, Pope Francis built upon the Church’s opposition to the death penalty as forcefully stated by Pope John Paul II, who described capital punishment as cruel and unnecessary and spoke of human dignity as an attribute of both the innocent and the guilty.

“Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity,” John Paul wrote, “and God himself pledges to guarantee this”2—a reference to the mark God put on Cain to warn others not to kill Cain for murdering his brother, Abel.3 The pope quoted St. Ambrose, who, writing about Cain in the fourth century, said, “God, who preferred the correction rather than the death of a sinner, did not desire that a homicide be punished by … another act of homicide.”4

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DIGNITY AND THE DEATH PENALTY: EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC TEACHING

When Pope Francis took the next step, declaring the death penalty now “inadmissible,” I wrote, “The moral ground zero of this issue in the Catholic context has been the question of self-defense and the inviolable dignity of every human being. There’s nothing dignified about rendering a person defenseless, strapping them down to a gurney, and killing them. That’s not self-defense, either.’’5 I also noted at the time that one of the most striking aspects of the new language in the Catechism is its reference to a commitment by the whole Church to work for abolition of the death penalty throughout the world.

Having worked on this cause for nearly four decades, I was, of course, overjoyed and deeply grateful at this development, embedded in the formal teaching of the Church. However, words are only words unless they are transformed into action—and in this case action means working toward the end of all state-sponsored killing.

Achieving that end requires continued efforts to persuade governments to abandon capital punishment. Catholic women and men should be part of those efforts and, therefore, should be informed about the reasons for the Church’s determination that executions must end.

Dignity and the Death Penalty can be a powerful way to impart that message to Catholics meeting in small groups. The faith-sharing sessions in this book help people absorb the rationale for the Church’s present teaching about the death penalty. And this book helps people learn about solutions that are better than execution, including restorative justice, in which we are invited to “understand crime in terms of the people and relationships that were harmed rather than the law that was broken—an approach that values human dignity, healing, accountability, and the hope of redemption for all involved.”6 Dignity and the Death Penalty also suggests ways in which participants can inform themselves about the bias and unfairness that infects much of the criminal justice system and weighs heavily against those who live in poverty and those who are black or Hispanic. Each session also suggests actions individuals and groups can take to influence the makers of public policy and to assist men and women who are incarcerated.

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Introduction

By framing the Church’s teaching on the death penalty in the context of the modern world, Pope Francis has encouraged those of us who oppose the barbaric practice, and he has challenged us to turn this teaching into reality. I pray that women and men who participate in Dignity and the Death Penalty will be inspired to play a part in achieving that goal.

Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ Sister Helen Prejean is a leading advocate for abolition of the death penalty and for elimination of social and economic unfairness in the criminal-justice system.

Among her published works are Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States and The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions.

Sister Helen Prejean discusses issues presented in this book in a webinar and videos available at https://pages.renewintl.org/ddpresources. Visit the page for additional LQIRUPDWLRQ WR KHOS \RX UHˊHFW IXUWKHU RQ WKLV LVVXH DQG WR OHDUQ KRZ \RX FDQ JHW involved.

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Session 1 DEAD MAN WALKING This session involves viewing the film Dead Man Walking.

The movie Dead Man Walking is available through many streaming services. Some, such as Crackle, provide the movie free but with commercial interruptions. Subscription services such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and iTunes offer the movie with a rental or purchase fee. You can see streaming services that provide the movie at www.justwatch.com. Many cable and satellite providers also include Dead Man Walking among the movies available in their on-demand menus.

Before watching the film: For your own edification, respond to a questionnaire that follows this session about the death penalty and about criminal justice as well. You will be invited to repeat the questionnaire at the end of these sessions to see if and how your viewpoints have changed.

After watching the film: In a journal, begin jotting down thoughts, feelings, and questions that come to you from watching Dead Man Walking. Note your own moral starting point with respect to the death penalty. Share these thoughts in Session Two and continue this writing activity throughout these sessions.

F IL M S YNOPSI S The film Dead Man Walking shows the many sides of convicted murderer Matthew Poncelet. He has been convicted of a terrible crime, the rape and murder of a teenage couple. By the time Sister Helen Prejean comes into his life, he has been on death row six years. She starts by exchanging letters with him. Matthew invites her to visit him at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. She does so and also helps him with last-minute appeals. All appeals fail, even after Sr. Helen secures a new public defender and implores the governor of Louisiana for mercy. She becomes Matthew’s spiritual 1

DIGNITY AND THE DEATH PENALTY: EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC TEACHING

advisor and walks with him to the death chamber. He claims he is innocent of the murders, blaming it on the friend who was with him. During their conversations, Sr. Helen expresses God’s love for everyone. She wants Matthew to feel God’s love. She tries to convince him that to be redeemed he must admit his role in the killings and ask forgiveness. Not until the last moments before his death by lethal injection does he fully admit his guilt to her and to a victim’s father.

In the process, the father of one of those who were murdered, accuses Sr. Helen of victimizing the families further by ignoring them while assisting Matthew. She begins reaching out to them. At their meetings, she listens to their remembrances of their children, hoping to bring them some comfort. One family angrily says that Sister Helen can’t befriend the murderer and be supportive of them at the same time. She needs to “come to the other side.” Sr. Helen also visits Matthew’s mother and encourages her and his brothers to visit with him on his last day.

Sr. Helen meets resistance from the prison warden, chaplain, and some of the guards. The support of her religious community keeps her going.

Through it all, the viewer gets insight into prison life, the unequal distribution of punishment, the difficulty of appeals, and the strong beliefs held by those on both sides of the death penalty issue.

(The film differs from the book of the same title in that characters in the film are composites of people described in the book. In the film, Matthew Poncelet is largely based on Patrick Sonnier and Robert Willie, both subjects of the book.)

I NV I TATION TO ACT Read Sister Helen Prejean’s introduction to Dignity and the Death Penalty: Evolution in Catholic Teaching.

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Session 1 – Dead Man Walking

PRAY Leader:

Merciful God, open our minds and our hearts as we embark on these reflections.

Help us to fairly consider all sides of difficult issues in criminal justice and to form our views always in light of the teaching of Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

INS IGHT FROM SI ST E R HE LE N PR EJ EA N “I see the journey of a human being awakening to a deeper and deeper dimension of what Christianity and the following of Jesus calls people to…. I want them to awaken to human rights so that even if people never go to church, they can awaken to compassion at the heart of all religious truths. I want them to get in touch with their inner, deeper, spiritual selves so they can live from the inside out, and not just following every stimulus that comes.”7 Sister Helen Prejean discusses issues presented in this book in a webinar and videos available at https://pages.renewintl.org/ ddpresources. Visit the page for additional information to help you reflect further on this issue and to learn how you can get involved.

LOOK ING A HE AD Prepare for the next session by reading Luke 6:31-36 and consider the events described there in the context of our discussion of capital punishment.

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Q U E S T I O N S A B O U T T H E D E AT H P E N A LTY For your own information, complete this questionnaire now and FRPSOHWH LW DJDLQ DIWHU \RX KDYH ˉQLVKHG WKHVH VHVVLRQV LQ RUGHU WR VHH how your views about the death penalty may have been affected.

1. How would you say the criminal justice system is administered in the United States? a. fairly to all b. unfairly to all c. fairly to certain groups d. have no idea 2. What are your thoughts about the use of the death penalty? a. haven’t thought about it much b. am in favor of the death penalty c. am opposed to the death penalty d. the death penalty might be necessary in certain cases 3. Currently, about half the states still have the death penalty. That number seems a. too high b. too low c. much too high, no state should have the death penalty d. much too low, every state should have the death penalty 4. How many countries around the world do you think have abolished the death penalty? a. none b. less than half c. half d. over two-thirds 5. Why might innocent people be wrongfully executed in this country? a. RIˉFLDO PLVFRQGXFW b. false accusations c. mistaken identity d. all of the above

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6. Why do you think people living in poverty are executed at a higher rate than other people? a. inadequate legal defense b. lack of education c. death penalty not sought as often for those with wealth d. all of the above 7. Where does the Catholic Church stand on the use of capital punishment under conditions that exist in the modern world? a. supportive of death penalty b. supportive of death penalty except for offenders under 18 c. opposed to death penalty d. opposed to death penalty except for extremely serious crimes 8. If the death penalty is abolished in the United States, what do you think would be just treatment for those committing serious crimes, especially murder? a. life sentence without parole b. life sentence with parole c. hard-labor camp d. VROLWDU\ FRQˉQHPHQW 9. Should offenders be required to make restitution to their victims or their families? a. yes, monetary restitution b. yes, through work c. no, their incarceration is enough d. only to a surviving victim, not to the family 10. What form of justice seeks to heal both those harmed and those who caused the harm? a. retributive justice b. restitutive justice c. restorative justice d. criminal justice

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