Death Penalty/Consistent Ethic of Life Panel Discussion in Summit, NJ

This panel discussion is being co-sponsored by Pax Christi Summit www.paxsummit.blogspot.com and New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty www.njadp.org . The event will be held on May 23rd from 7:30 to 9:30 at the Knights of Columbus 201 Shunpike Road, Summit, NJ.

The goal that we have for this event is to join together the social justice groups with the pro-life groups and begin to talk in terms of a consistent ethic of life. If we are successful we believe we will lend power to all of our causes.

The program will be called "The Death Penalty and a Consistent Ethic of Respect for Life". NJADP will be bringing two speakers, Kirk Bloodsworth, who is the first person to be exonerated of a captial crime using DNA evidence and Lorry Post, founder of NJADP and father of a murder victim. They will speak first followed by a speaker on Catholic social justice doctrine as it relates to the Culture of Life, the death penalty and abortion. Each speaker will have 20-30 minutes to speak followed by Q&A.

The question which creates a large hurdle for pro-life groups is "How can we convince those who do not share our religious belief that life begins at conception of the moral imperative of ending the practice of abortion?" We believe we can start by looking at other life issues and create a tenderness of consciousness built on peace and justice which supports all life "from conception to natural death". To quote Eleanor Roosevelt "When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?"

As a Catholic organization, we understand that abortion and the death penalty are not regarded on the same level according to the catechism. Abortion is an absolute evil with the only justification being an ectopic pregnancy. The Church's position on the death penalty is not so immutable, although Pope John Paul seemed to move it quite a bit farther toward an absolute exclusion by saying that justification for the death penalty was nearly obsolete in the modern world. This along with Pope Benedict's continued support of eliminating the death penalty prompted the US Bishops to begin its "Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty".

However, I recently stumbled across an explanation of Cardinal Bernadin's "Seamless Garment" metaphor. This suggests to me that we cannot take life and social justice issues as if each were in a vacuum. Nor can we take any of the other teachings of the respect for life or the dignity of the human person and treat them individually. If we strive for all we argue from a position of moral strength and we may achieve some. If we strive for some and leave the others behind we are arguing from a weakened position and may accomplish less or nothing at all.

Living in New Jersey, we actually are in a position to end the use of the death penalty in our state. This panel discussion will give participants both the background to understand the issue AND the tools to take the steps necessary for us as to prevail on a social justice issue that is also an important matter of public policy. It is also intended to give pro-life and social justice groups the tools to speak in terms of a consistent ethic of life so that we can all prevail in our pursuit of creating a blessed society.

Please join us in this discussion.

Location

Knight of Columbus Hall

99 Shunpike Rd

summit, NJ

United States

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