263. As we approach Roe v. Wade, a look at the Death Penalty

Social Justice. The Environment. The Earth.

Those words were part of the homily this morning delivered by visiting priest Fr. Roy Stiles at my church's 8:30 Mass. I've known Fr. Roy for many years. He is an old style, old-fashioned, and getting-old priest who serves as the pastor of the combined churches of St. Therese in Germantown and St. Elizabeth in Schnitzelburg, which is sometimes said to be a sub-division of Germantown proper, itself a neighborhood of Louisville since the 1840s. Those two churches, along with mine, Holy Family, form what the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville calls a cluster, meaning the three keep their indivdual identities but mingle their roles to more effectively serve their respective and collective diminishing congregations.

I spoke with Father after the Mass and expressed my great satisfaction with his inclusion of these old-fashioned Catholic values in his message, social justice (liberal) values that drove the Church in the late 1950s, and through the 1960s and 1970s, but somehow have gotten lost in the last thirty or so years, overtaken by the Me Generation on the one hand, and an undying and unyielding opposition to abortion of the other, both of which have caused the Catholic Church population to move from the left to the right and from being a major part of the Democratic Party to now playing a similar role for Republicans. I was especially pleased that abortion wasn't the centerpiece of Father's weekly message, as this is the weekend usually reserved for such a message as we approach January 22, the day in 1973 when the Supreme Court rendered its (in)famous Roe v. Wade decision. Father Roy never said the word abortion today, nor did the Prayers of the Faithful mention the usual prayer for babies born and unborn.

Like many, I've struggled with a woman's right to choose (or control her body) versus what is described by some as a murder of an unborn baby. Being neither a woman, nor being a person planning on either intentionally or unintentionally starting a family, with the procreative work that is involved, I sometimes feel I am not qualified to make any comments on the subject, pro or con.

That doesn't stifle my belief that murder is wrong and it is especially wrong if undertaken by the government (in my name) as retaliation for a serious crime. I am adamantly opposed to the Death Penalty. I strongly support the government's ability to lock a person away for the rest of their days, leaving them alone in their cell with only the minimal necessities required to exist, as a punishment. As a Catholic Christian, I do believe there is an afterlife, although as a somewhat agnostic and sceptic questioner, I am not all that sure that it involves streets paved of gold and milk and honey for constant refreshment. I've even conceived of the idea that reincarnation is a possibilty, as is nothing at all. But, also as a Christian, I am something of a Universalist who believes that as we are all daughters and sons of God, that despite our wanderings and wickedness, a loving God father-figure wants the best for us in the afterlife and that we will all eventually be the proverbial Prodigal Sons and Daughters returning home in the end, amidst much rejoicing.

For that reason, I am concerned that using the Death Penalty as a means of punishment, may be in fact, sending the criminal off to her or his eternal reward, which is ultimately determined by God and not a Court of Law. How we treat these who are condemned here on earth may play a role in whatever eternal reward, good or bad, may be waiting for us, the condemners, upon our earthly demise. I do not take this lightly. Unlike the discussion of abortion, from which I preclude myself for the reasons stated above, I feel I have a part of the discussion on the Death Penalty.

Many years ago, when I was 15, my paternal grandmother, Grace Irene Lee Noble, whose birthday was a few days ago, was murdered in the jewelry store where she was working. This was August 9, 1976. She was murdered by two men who went on to murder another person, a 19 year old gas station attendant. Eventually the two were tried and convicted of both murders. At the time, the most they could be sentenced to was 64 years, which they were. Each have been up for parole several times and I (and others) have worked to make sure they weren't paroled so they would serve the maximum amount of their sentence. Eventually, if they live long enough, they will be freed. They will have served their sentences and be returned to society. If today's law had been in effect when they were tried and convicted, they would no doubt have been sentenced to death. Having been thus sentenced, chances are we, the taxpayers, would have paid over and over for their retrials, mistrials, and appeals further and further up the judicial ladder. Or, they would have paid the ultimate price, and would have been executed by the State and gone on to whatever awaits them on the other side, something no one on this side really knows anything about. As it was, the system worked (or at least has worked so far) in that they are still incarcerated and there are no further appeals.

That is the justice I propose in lieu of the Death Penatly -- Life in Prison without the possibility of parole. Life in Prison rather than being dispatched by the government by injection or whatever lethal means are legal, and possibly being dispatched from a hardened criminal life here on earth to a reward awaiting them by a merciful and grateful heavenly father.

We've all been to funerals where we (and everyone else in attendance) are fully aware that the deceased (who was either kith or kin) wasn't the dearly beloved the eulogists have made them out to be. Nevertheless, it is usually our ardent hope, assuming we believe in any afterlife at all, that they - by their death - are removed from whatever problems had afflicted them here on earth and are "At Peace." We really do hope for these things even if it isn't comfortable to believe them. The truth is we usually pray for such things at the funeral service itself. At least I do, and I think deep in many hearts of hearts, others do as well.

So, my opposition to the Death Penalty stands strong and unwavering, while my concerns about whether or not Abortion Stops a Beating Heart, as many of the bumper stickers read on the cars parked in front of St. Martin's Church at any hour of the day, as they have a perpetual prayer going on there in opposition to abortion, wavers back and forth between the woman's right of control of her body versus the government's right to tell her she can't control the same. I have never found a happy home in this discussion and there may not be one. I believe I am personally opposed to abortion just as I am personally opposed to murder and the Death Penalty. The antiabortionists believe life begins at conception. In the Catholic Church, we bestow much adoration upon the Mother of Jesus because she was Immaculately Conceived. We even have a feast day to celebrate it, December 8, first established in 1476. We, and many other churches, celebrate the angel of the Lord appearing to Mary, telling her of her upcoming pregnancy, and her response of "be it unto me according to thy word," as told in the First Chapter of Saint Luke, the chapter preceding the much better known Second Chapter which tells of the birth of Jesus. Thus, celebrating conception as opposed to birth is a long-standing tradition of the Church. Nonetheless, most of us do not celebrate the date of our own conception, perhaps because it may be just too embarassing a question to ask of our parents exactly when it happened since chances are really good that no angel of the Lord appeared to our mothers or fathers informing them of the impending pregnancy. For me, my parents were married on a given date and nine months less three days later I was born. The math is pretty easy, but I've never addressed it as a question to either of my parents.

So, while the rest of the Cathlic world may heve been praying for an end to abortion this morning in Masses, Fr. Roy told us to look further than ourselves and our own needs and beliefs to those of others, whether they be Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, and even atheists - those are his words, not mine, although I fully concur. And he talked about Social Justice in the world and physical justice for the environment and the earth and the ties that bind us, not the schisms which divide us. It was a truly great sermon in my opinion.

Looking ahead, tomorrow is the Monday Holiday celebration of the person some have called America's saint, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The next day, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is also the 68th Anniversary of the Nativity of my best friend, my mother Barbara Hockensmith. Happy Birthday Mom. Finally, one year from today we will inaugurate the 44th President of the United States, bringing to an end to unjust junta in control of the country since their stealing of the election in 2000.


Thanks Be To God.