NEWS RELEASE, IOWA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE

Timothy McCarthy, Executive Director, Iowa Catholic Conference
505 5th Ave., Ste 818, Des Moines, IA 50309 – 2393
515/​243‑6256

The Catholic Bishops of Iowa speak out in oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty and its pos­si­ble rein­state­ment in the state of Iowa. The Bishops have updat­ed their state­ment of January 23, 1995. Both state­ments call for the recog­ni­tion of the sacred­ness of life from con­cep­tion through nat­ur­al death. The new state­ment acknowl­edges the stronger lan­guage now con­tained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was released on September 9, 1997.

Speaking for the Catholic Bishops of Iowa, Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus, OSB, plans to present the state­ment at a pub­lic hear­ing called by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. This hear­ing is being held on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Statehouse in Des Moines. He will intro­duce the attached state­ment of all the Catholic Bishops of Iowa. The Archbishop of Dubuque is the Metropolitan of the Province of Dubuque, which is the four Catholic dio­ce­ses of Iowa. He is the President of the Iowa Catholic Conference. We speak in oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty and its pos­si­ble rein­state­ment in Iowa.

We chal­lenge the peo­ple of Iowa, espe­cial­ly our own Catholic faith­ful, to exam­ine the issue of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the light of basic moral and reli­gious val­ues. After fur­ther review and in light of cur­rent dis­cus­sions and ini­tia­tives, we speak more strong­ly than ever against the death penal­ty. We dare to take this posi­tion and we raise this chal­lenge because of our
com­mit­ment to a con­sis­tent eth­ic of life, by which we wish to give unam­bigu­ous wit­ness to the sacred­ness of every human life from con­cep­tion through nat­ur­al death. We pro­claim the good news that no per­son is beyond the redemp­tive mer­cy of God.

The recent­ly updat­ed and defin­i­tive edi­tion of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, released September 9, 1997, includes stronger lan­guage against the death penal­ty to reflect the teach­ings of Pope John Paul II in his 1995 encycli­cal, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life). The new lan­guage in the Catechism states that recourse to the death penal­ty is not exclud­ed ​“if this is the only pos­si­ble way of effec­tive­ly defend­ing human lives against the unjust aggres­sor.” The Catechism then affirms strong­ly that ​“today, in fact, as a con­se­quence of the pos­si­bil­i­ties which the state has for effec­tive­ly pre­vent­ing crime … the cas­es in which the exe­cu­tion of the offend­er is an absolute neces­si­ty ​‘are very rare, if not prac­ti­cal­ly non-exis­tent’ ” (para­graph 2267).

The United States Catholic Conference, respond­ing to the sit­u­a­tion in our coun­try, has for more than 30 years opposed the use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The Iowa Catholic Conference here­by reaf­firms that posi­tion. We oppose the death penal­ty in any form, even a ​“lim­it­ed” death penalty.

We oppose rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty to send a mes­sage that we can break the cycle of vio­lence, that we need not take life for life.

We oppose the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty to man­i­fest our belief in the unique worth and dig­ni­ty of each per­son, made in the image and like­ness of God.

We oppose the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty to give fur­ther tes­ti­mo­ny of our con­vic­tion that God is indeed the Lord of life.

We oppose the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty to fol­low the exam­ple of Jesus, who both taught and prac­ticed the for­give­ness of injustice.

We find cer­tain dif­fi­cul­ties inher­ent in the use of capital punishment:

  • Use of the death penal­ty extin­guish­es pos­si­bil­i­ties for reform, reha­bil­i­ta­tion, and com­pen­sa­tion for evil done.
  • Use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment involves the pos­si­bil­i­ty of inno­cent per­sons being exe­cut­ed.¥ The legal impo­si­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in our soci­ety involves a long and costly process.
  • The crim­i­nal, his/​her fam­i­ly and loved ones, and those who per­form or wit­ness the exe­cu­tion suf­fer great and unavoidable anguish.
  • Executions attract enor­mous pub­lic­i­ty, much of it unhealthy, stir con­sid­er­able acri­mo­ny in pub­lic dis­cus­sion, and may even increase the lev­el of vio­lence in society.


We affirm that there is a spe­cial need to offer sym­pa­thy and sup­port for the vic­tims of vio­lent crime and their fam­i­lies. Our soci­ety should not flinch from con­tem­plat­ing the suf­fer­ing that vio­lent crimes brings to so many when it destroys lives, shat­ters fam­i­lies and crush­es the hope of the innocent.

Recognition of this suf­fer­ing should not lead to demands for vengeance, but to a firm res­o­lu­tion that help be giv­en to the vic­tims of crime and that jus­tice be done fair­ly and swiftly.

We urge our broth­ers and sis­ters in Christ, as well as all peo­ple of good will, to remem­ber the teach­ings of Jesus, who called us to be rec­on­ciled with those who have injured us (Mt. 5:43 – 45) and to pray for for­give­ness for our sins ​“as we for­give those who have sinned against us” (Mt. 6:12). We call on you to con­tem­plate the cru­ci­fied Christ who sent us the supreme exam­ple of for­give­ness and of the tri­umph of compassionate love.

Most Rev. Jerome Hanus, OSB
Archbishop of Dubuque
Most Rev. William E. Franklin
Bishop of Davenport

Most Rev. Lawrence D. Soens
Bishop of Sioux City
Most Rev. Joseph L. Charron, C.PP.S
Bishop of Des Moines

Most Rev. Daniel N. DiNardo
Coadjutor Bishop of Sioux City
Most Rev. Daniel W. Kucera, OSB
Retired Archbishop of Dubuque

Most Rev. Gerald O’Keefe
Retired Bishop of Davenport

February 4, 1998