Catholic leaders seek end to death penalty in two states

Published: 2007-01-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In separate actions the Maryland Catholic Conference and Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., have called for an end to the death penalty in their states. Both states currently face a de facto moratorium on executions because of legal difficulties over the use of lethal injection to carry it out. Maryland Catholic Conference executive director Richard J. Dowling Jan. 25 urged the state's General Assembly to adopt legislation that would substitute life imprisonment without parole for all crimes currently punishable by death in Maryland. The conference is the public policy agency of the bishops of Maryland. "Most Marylanders are ready for repeal" of capital punishment, Dowling said in a one-page statement that noted the Catholic Church "has long been a leader on this issue." Bishop Cupich appealed for the abolition of the death penalty in South Dakota in a two-page article in the Jan. 29 issue of America, a New York-based national Catholic magazine. He linked the issue to the state's efforts last year to ban abortion except to save the mother's life.

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