LCCB Issues Capital Punishment Statement

While the Louisiana Legislature mulls a pair of bills that would eliminate the death penalty, the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement reiterating its emphatic stance against capital punishment.

The statement, titled “Affirm the Culture of Life: End the Use of the Death Penalty,” was issued March 28 and distributed to all legislators, according to LCCB executive director Tom Costanza.

Costanza said the original statement had not been revised since The Catechism of the Catholic Church issued revisions in 2018. Additionally, for the past two months Costanza said there has been a coordinated convening of several Catholic entities to make a concerted push to the legislators promoting the two bills.

“A combination of all of that led us to saying ‘let’s update this statement,’ ” Costanza said. 

The statement, he said, is basically broken down in three parts, with the first acknowledging the victims’ pain and suffering “to deepen our commitment to them.”

He added the second part talks about St. John Paul and closes by showing the practical problems with capital punishment, as well as the cost.

“We are asking legislators to search their hearts, show mercy and build a culture of life,” Costanza said. “We wanted to try and talk about life, affirming the culture of life.”

LCCB emphasized its opposition to the death penalty is not intended in any way to diminish what victims and their families have suffered. Rather, the statement affirms the lives of those lost and the ultimate value of life in general.

Quoting from St. John Paul II, the statement also reads “that not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, as God himself pledges to guarantee this. For this reason, whoever attacks human life, in some way attacks God himself.”

The statement did point out the increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after committing a heinous crime and that a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state.

“No matter how heinous the crime, if society can protect itself without ending a human life, it should do so,” the statement said, while throwing its “unequivocal” support behind bills authored by Sen. Katrina Jackson and Rep. Kyle Green to end use of the death penalty. 

Also noted was the fact Louisiana leads the nation per capita in wrongful death sentences.

After coming close two years ago, Costanza is optimistic about the bill making it to both floors for a vote. But he quickly added he is a “realist.”

“(Jackson) is a pro-life Democrat and has a lot of respect but who knows?” he said. “I just know we are going to try to work hard and get it out of committee.”

Although not on either calendar at this point, the bills should eventually be heard in Senate Judiciary Committee C and the House Criminal Justice Committee.

Costanza said he, and in some instances state bishops, have met with more than 60 lawmakers to promote the legislation. He indicated some legislators expressed their own struggles with the bills but added the bishops were pastoral in their responses to them, talking to them and listening to their concerns.

There is also some discussion about a bishop potentially testifying before one of the committees, similar to what Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, then bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, did several years ago.

“We are going to have to discern that,” Costanza said. “(The bishops) are more than happy to do it.”

LCCB recently activated “Voter Voice” on its website. An individual can log into the LCCB website and there will be an option to send the statement to that person’s individual’s senator or representative. 

The website is laccb.org.