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Ft. Hood Shooter: Follow-Up

 In the end, the guilty man is certain to die. It’s not my role to advocate to save his life. The Catholic Church now stands against capital punishment. I have no problem assimilating that reasoning and its conclusion into my thinking. I was a dedicated abolitionist 5 years before I submitted to the Bishop of Rome, to that faith, and to the philosophical tradition that undergirds it. None of the popes in my lifetime have opposed it for frivolous or personal reasons. Even were I unbound by anything in that ordinary magisterium, I should still prefer the pope’s opinion to my own.

I have family members who disagree, but their place in Heaven is far from assured, for one. For another, “I love you” and “Your commitment to reason is in question” are not mutually exclusive.

And we stand to be changed for the worse by this outcome, and especially if we watch it. And I believe God will hold anyone who celebrates it to account.

Even in the days before the Christian teaching stood against it, every such society treated the punishment as a sorrow, worthy of solemnity and a certain reserve. Bigots and racists didn’t. By all means, have a party. You’ll be dancing with haters in eternal fire. Or at least it’s a distinct possibility. Lynchings have been a source of shame for us, until apparently now.

I suppose it should be clear: Christian teaching is Catholic teaching. For the sake of truth, other opinions aren’t relevant, especially when the stakes are highest.

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