The death penalty is not opposed by the Church. It is NOT as bad as being Catholic and voting for abortion or fighting for it. I understand that you feel it is, but just because you feel it is, doesn’t make it so. The Church does not require it of us, and therefore we do not have to oppose the death penalty.
No, in modern America, the Church is not opposed to the use of the death penalty.
This.
Maybe he felt he was being personally attacked and called a coward.
I know here in Illinois when “Lord Gino” the leader of the nortorious Latin Kings was sent to prison he was still able to govern the gang. He was able to have distribution of drugs done while in prison. During his imprisonment he also took advantage to take over the illinois prison gangs so that the Kings would be the dominant gang in the illinois system. He would arranged this by having his “soldiers” beat or kill inmates or prison guards so that they would be transffered to other Illinois prisons and have them start chapters there. The government finally realize what was happen and he was sent to Colorado in a maximum security prison, but the damage has already been done.
Agreed, as I mentioed before all these issues are secondary to working out our salvations and preaching the Word of God. Political ideology in which the Church does not have much say in should be kept out of mass! Too much confusion as we have seen from previous posters in mentioning the Church condemnes capital punishment, it does not and just shows that the lay faithful are not being educated. If one opposes the death penalty, this is fine, but do not judge other Catholics as being sinful or not true Catholics because they support it as an option to fight crime, this just shows an ignorance on your/their part.
While people may have “problems” with some of the Church’s teachings, I don’t think it is fair to criticize and say they can’t call themselves Catholic. Anyone who is Baptized in the Catholic Church is a Catholic. Our Church is filled with sinners and everyone (except Our Lord and His Mother!
) falls short of perfection; does that make them any less Catholic? No.I’m talking about the people who believe in abortion, say it is ok for homosexuals to marry, take birth control, don’t go to mass except maybe once in a blue moon, don’t go to confession, and still say “well I’m Catholic so I’m going to take the Eucharist”. No if you don’t follow the teachings of the Church then how can you call yourself a Catholic might as well be a protestant. If they see the light and repent and want to come back to the Church then Praise Jesus. Doesn’t make any sense to me why the would want to call themselves something they don’t believe in!!While people may have “problems” with some of the Church’s teachings, I don’t think it is fair to criticize and say they can’t call themselves Catholic. Anyone who is Baptized in the Catholic Church is a Catholic. Our Church is filled with sinners and everyone (except Our Lord and His Mother!
I may get slammed for saying this, but isn’t having “problems” with some of the Church’s teachings what started the Protestant Reformation movement? We may not always like something that the Church teaches and that’s o.k. We all question, have doubts, don’t understand, may not like, what the Church teaches, but we still have to accept it. But when you begin to protest, hmmmm…While people may have “problems” with some of the Church’s teachings, I don’t think it is fair to criticize and say they can’t call themselves Catholic. Anyone who is Baptized in the Catholic Church is a Catholic. Our Church is filled with sinners and everyone (except Our Lord and His Mother!
I appologize as i was and went way out of line here. I wish to express remorse to those who might was offended as it should not have been put this way. Again another suprise and more reading needed to be done. Yes, i admit that without problems.
While I can understand where you and the other poster I specifically responded are coming from, I wanted to raise the caution because I have seen it too many times where people tell others, “Oh you’re a Catholic and you do X”… Must not really be “Catholic”… or “So and so is a Christian and look at what he does Saturday night…”, etc.
Of course these actions are not compatible with what the Church teaches and it is only compounding one’s sins, but that is all they are: sinners. Now, if one truly understands and accepts these teachings as the Truth but in turn rejects them, there are situations, to my understanding, that one could be anathema, but I am not sure how that would affect their identity as a Catholic.
, but I still was Catholic! And I am still Catholic today! 
…And that we shouldn’t give up on our fellow brothers and sisters and tell them they aren’t Catholic when they really need our loving support and prayers!Unfortunately, there is a measure of politics in which we are obligated to participate in order to be good stewards of our faith. We may not be inclined to mix the two, but we also do not live in a vacuum in society.
So…you would have participated in the dissent/interruption during mass, then advised the guy that he should have waited until after mass to do so?This is one reason why politics should be kept out of Church. I’ve said this many times that the Church should not be meddling in politics
And I support the death penalty. I live in an area that because of the lenient laws, crime is on the increase. This city is becoming a joke, and a significant number of people no longer have any respect for the law. Only those who deal with crime on a day-to-day basis understand that the death penalty is the only solution. I would have applauded that man myself, although advised him to display his dissent after Mass was finished.Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
But the Church doesn’t “clearly teach that execution of a criminal is almost never o.k.”.
But the Church doesn’t “clearly teach that execution of a criminal is almost never o.k.”.
Someone already posted what the Church teaches. The Church teaches that execution of a criminal IS o.k. if it is the only way to keep society safe. Here’s the paragraph from the Catechism:
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 more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
It’s clearly o.k. with the Church to accept the death penalty as a valid option for crime control…but only under exceptional and rare circumstances, which makes it “almost never OK”. I think everyone here is on the same page, just differing in semantics.
It is becoming easier for imprisoned criminals to continue to wield influence over their free cohorts and minions, which makes it even more important for the government to leave themselves the option of using the death penalty to protect its citizens. Posters on this thread have posted examples of how imprisoned criminals continue to lead their “gangs” on the outside.
Also, there is the questionable legal system which allows convicted criminals to continue to appeal and to petition for early release, no matter how heinous their crimes. Obviously if an innocent man or woman has been wrongly convicted due to suppression of evidence, then we want justice for these people. DNA technology has been a godsend, allowing many wrongly condemned people to prove their innocence. Because of DNA technology, we ought to be extremely careful about using a death penalty.
But DNA also has been a godsend to prove guilt. All too often, a criminal is clearly guilty and has even confessed guilt, yet still is unwilling to pay the price for their crime and serve out their sentence. They feel that a prison “repentance” merits their personal freedom.
Mere imprisonment is not always adequate to protect citizens from evil men and women. The Church, in her wisdom, recognizes this and allows a “loophole”, rather than making an absolute pronouncement. Praise the Lord for our Church!
I’m not going to bash you
But I will say that it’s interesting to note that your last comment puts you in the Cafeteria, with those with whom you disagree. And this is because you are in defiance of an actual Church teaching yourself when you make that comment. And this is because it’s an actual Church teaching that says that once someone is Baptised Catholic, their soul is marked indelibly as Catholic, whether the person likes it or not, whether the person practices Catholicism or not, or even if they have formally defected from the Church (papers in hand) and become a member of another religion. And therefore, regardless of a person’s “status” or activity within the Church, the Catholic Church still regards that person Catholic…even if you do not. So yes, just because you are Baptised Catholic, DOES mean you are one.