PRO-DEATH CATHOLICS

I’m glad to find that John DiIulio has actually written against the death penalty. My web search for articles didn’t include the Wall Street Journal, where an article he wrote in 1997 demonstrates his opposition. Good for him. It’s worth pointing out though that his view is not moral but prudential. It’s not an argument against the death penalty as such, but against it under its current capricious enforcement. Alas, there’s no free link, but here’s his conclusion: “The death penalty as it has been administered, is administered and will likely continue to be administered is arbitrary and capricious. As a political matter, that’s not likely to change. This who-shall-live state lottery is unjust both as a matter of Judeo-Christian ethics and as a matter of American citizenship. Since we can’t apply it fairly, we ought to consider abolishing it.” I’m sorry I missed it. Ditto the current issue of First Things has a big essay on the death penalty by Cardinal Dulles. It too hedges its bets somewhat, and takes a more lenient view of the death penalty than the current Pope does, but the Cardinal does oppose the sanction of death. Clearly, some Catholic neocons are struggling with this. (Buried in the archives of First Things, Richard John Neuhaus even has a small reflection on the subject – but nothing like the mounds of attention he focuses on homosexuality.) It speaks highly of them that they are – even if I think they’re wriggling a little.