Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty

by Vicki Schieber (Editor), Trudy D Conway (Editor), David Matzko McCarthy (Editor), Helen Prejean (Foreword by)

Overview

Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty comprehensively explores the Catholic stance against capital punishment in new and important ways. The broad perspective of this book has been shaped in conversation with the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty, as well as through the witness of family members of murder victims and the spiritual advisors of condemned inmates.

The book offers the reader new insight into the debates about capital punishment; provides revealing, and sometimes surprising, information about methods of execution; and explores national and international trends and movements related to the death penalty. It also addresses how the death penalty has been intertwined with racism, the high percentage of the mentally disabled on death row, and how the death penalty disproportionately affects the poor.

The foundation for the church's position on the death penalty is illuminated by discussion of the life and death of Jesus, Scripture, the Mass, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the teachings of Pope John Paul II. Written for concerned Catholics and other interested readers, the book contains contemporary stories and examples, as well as discussion questions to engage groups in exploring complex issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814635087
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	02/01/2013
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	687,246
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Vicki Schieber is a speaker, writer and ambassador for Catholic Mobilizing Network and the co-founder of Murder Victim's Families for Human Rights. As the mother of a murder victim, she is active in murder victim families support groups and a noted advocate for death penalty repeal. She is coeditor of Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty (Liturgical Press, 2013).

Trudy D. Conway is professor emeritus at Mount St. Mary’s University. She is active in the Catholic campaign against the death penalty and contributes to the educational initiatives of the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty. She is coeditor of Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty (Liturgical Press, 2013).

David Matzko McCarthy, PhD, is the Father Forker Professor of Catholic Social Teaching in the theology department at Mount St. Mary's University. He is the author of Death Penalty and Discipleship: A Formation Guide (Liturgical Press, 2016), coeditor of Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty (Liturgical Press, 2013), and the founding editor of the Journal of Moral Theology.

Table of Contents

Foreword Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ xi

Acknowledgments xv

Contributors xix

Part I The Death Penalty Today 1

Chapter 1 Facing the Truth 3

The Appearances and Realities of Lethal Injection Kim Philip Hansen 6

Review and Looking Forward 13

Questions for Discussion 14

Chapter 2 Seeing Ourselves from an International Perspective 16

An International Perspective on the Death Penalty Amanda Beal 18

Review and Looking Forward 28

Questions for Discussion 30

Chapter 3 Trying to Get It Right 31

Rethinking the Death Penalty Trudy D. Conway 34

Review and Looking Forward 43

Questions for Discussion 44

Chapter 4 The Power of Stories 46

Stirring Hearts and Minds Kurt Blaugher 49

Review and Looking Forward 55

Questions for Discussion 56

Part II A Christian Rethinking of the Death Penalty 57

Chapter 5 Forgiveness and Healing 59

The Eucharist: Forgiveness and Personhood Rodica Stoicoiu 61

Review and Looking Forward 67

Questions for Discussion 69

Chapter 6 Jesus Christ and Sacrifice 70

Jesus Christ as Scapegoat: Christology, Sacrifice, and the Death Penalty David Cloutier 72

Review and Looking Forward 81

Questions for Discussion 83

Chapter 7 Hebrew Scriptures-"an Eye for an Eye" 84

Biblical Principles: Mosaic Law Richard Buck 86

Review and Looking Forward 95

Questions for Discussion 96

Chapter 8 The Bible and the Church 97

WWJD? Jesus, the Death Penalty, and US Catholics Sr. Mary Katherine Birge, SSJ 99

Review and Looking Forward 107

Questions for Discussion 108

Part III Church Teachings on Capital Punishment 111

Chapter 9 The Catholic Moral Tradition 113

The Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Views E. Christian Brugger 115

Review and Looking Forward 124

Questions for Discussion 125

Chapter 10 The Church Today 126

The Church and Capital Punishment in the Modern Period E. Christian Brugger 128

Review and Looking Forward 135

Questions for Discussion 136

Chapter 11 The Catechism in Historical Perspective 137

The Catechetical Tradition Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland 139

Review and Looking Forward 147

Questions for Discussion 148

Chapter 12 The Death Penalty in the Catechetical Tradition 149

The Gospel of Life Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland 151

Review and Looking Forward 159

Questions for Discussion 161

Part IV The Least of These 163

Chapter 13 Money Matters 165

The Economics of the Death Penalty Alejandro Cañadas John Schwenkler 168

Review and Looking Forward 176

Questions for Discussion 178

Chapter 14 A Legacy of Race 179

The Death Penalty and Race Timothy W. Wolfe 181

Review and Looking Forward 192

Questions for Discussion 193

Chapter 15 Vulnerabilities and Risks 194

People with Disabilities and the Death Penalty Thomas H. Powell Robert Perske Patricia A. Lester Dominique L. Nguyen 196

Review and Looking Forward 206

Questions for Discussion 208

Chapter 16 A Matter of Discipleship 209

The Heart of Our Faith Fr. James Donohue, CR 212

Review and Looking Forward 221

Questions for Discussion 222

Conclusion Vicki Schieber 223

Editorial Reviews

Abolition of the death penalty deserves the same support as abolition of slavery. Not only Catholics but the general public increasing believes that innocent people are executed because the criminal justice system is patently unfair for a host of reasons and is not needed for public safety. Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty is a treasure trove of information on the necessity and urgency to abolish an antiquated approach to capital crimes.
Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, Archbishop Emeritus of Galveston-Houston


Where Justice and Mercy Meet combines solid moral reflections on the death penalty with captivating stories of people caught up in this system. Both deeply interesting and educational, this book should reach a wide diversity of readers.
Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center, Washington, DC


Schieber, Conway, and McCarthy have put together a true Catholic meditation on the death penalty. Their authors bring us into an immediate consideration of what the death penalty entails and shepherd us through a variety of considerations, including the evolving tradition of Catholicism that finally and inevitably brings us to oppose this form of punishment. What is most effective about this collection is just how mindful the editors are of the readers. They accompany us with introductions, narratives, testimonies, and questions such that we cannot eventually avoid the question about whether as Catholics we can in any way speak approvingly of this anti-life practice. A prophetic and necessary work for our time that will hopefully awaken us all to a very dark and hidden, and profoundly unchristian, practice. Well done!
James F. Keenan, SJ, Founders Professor in Theology, Boston College


Where Justice and Mercy Meet educates readers about the reality of the death penalty in the United States-from methods of execution to the influence of racism and poverty. Through well-researched and thought-provoking essays that combine history, statistics, and personal testimony, we learn of the grim reality of state executions. More crucially, the book examines the arguments against capital punishment that stem from a rich Catholic tradition of forgiveness, love, and discipleship. We discover that, for criminal justice to be truly just, we must take into account the mercy of God's love. This message is truly one to be spread.
Liz Lefebvre, Assistant Editor, U.S. Catholic


I have written articles, taught classes, and spoken to church groups about capital punishment; in my judgment this book is the most accessible resource now available for engaging, informing, and perhaps even transforming how readers view the death penalty.
Tobias Winright Saint Louis University


The editors deftly weave story, description, and analysis to introduce and review the sixteen contributions to this collection, creating a coherent, compelling Christian argument against the death penalty in the United States. The heart of the argument is theological, rooted in rich exposition of liturgical practice, scripture, tradition, and church teaching.
The Christian Century


Where Justice and Mercy Meet is an indispensable resource for professors, teachers, catechists, and prison and social justice ministers. Widely accessible, it maintains intellectual rigor as it witnesses to the "hopeful perseverance" of Dorothy Day in the subversive joy of the Gospel. Take up this book in hopeful perseverance to end a practice that diminishes the humanity in and between all of us.
American Catholic Studies

From the Publisher