NEW RESOURCE: Catholic Views on the Death Penalty

Professor emer­i­tus James J. Megivern of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington exam­ines the shift in Roman Catholic Church teach­ing regard­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in ​“Judge Noonan, Church Change, and the Death Penalty,” pub­lished by the University of St. Thomas Law Journal. In the arti­cle, Megivern out­lines Judge John T. Noonan’s remarks on this issue and pro­vides addi­tion­al insight about the his­tor­i­cal mile­stones that have occurred as the Church began to issue pub­lic calls for an end to exe­cu­tions, includ­ing the post-World War II human rights move­ment and the elec­tion of Pope John Paul II in 1978. The arti­cle appeared as part of the ded­i­ca­tion of a new University of St. Thomas School of Law build­ing hon­or­ing Judge Noonan. (1 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 274 (2003)) See Resources.