Letter to the Editor

Published: August 19, 2004

To the Editor:

I support the archbishop’s right to speak out against abortion. However, I do not support his right to pick out only one element of the sanctity of life. He has chosen to ignore the death penalty, the pope’s denunciation of the war in Iraq and gun control. This omission I am sure is fully supported by the Republican Party.

Bob Mayer, Internet

Editor’s Note: In 2000 Archbishop John F. Donoghue asked pastors of the archdiocese to preach on the church’s position on the death penalty and authorized distribution of Moratorium 2000, a petition seeking a halt in executions. Over 12,000 Catholics signed the petitions. Along with other bishops of the Province of Atlanta, he signed a statement in 1992 opposing use of the death penalty in the United States. At the time he was bishop of Charlotte, N.C. In September 2002 he wrote a public letter to the people of the archdiocese outlining the position of the Catholic Church seeking alternatives to war with Iraq and urging people to consider writing to their congressional representatives and the president to uphold that position. In Lent 2003 he wrote another public letter asking for prayer and fasting for peace in every parish of the archdiocese and continued efforts to seek alternatives to war with Iraq.