The Church using the new media is a good thing and a breath of fresh air. However just using the new media is not good enough, especially when the media is used to promulgate personal opinions by those who are supposed to represent the institutional Church. When segments of the Catholic Church in the United States use new media to evangelize and or catechize, there is a higher obligation to be clear and accurate not only in what is being written but what is being communicated. When connecting new media to the new evangelization, I do not think Pope John Paul II had in mind a “new proselytization.”
Case in point: the USCCB’s Media Blog. And my first submission of evidence is Sr. Mary Ann Walsh’s recent post, “Death Penalty: Political Sport at Its Most Barbarous.”
Since I am not officially representing the hierarchy of the Church, I am not under the same obligations as Sr. Walsh. However I still strive for accuracy and clarity in my posts, regardless of topic. So here is my response to Sr. Walsh’s personal editorial opinion piece posted on USCCB’s Media Blog:
Clarity in discussing serious topics such as capital punishment/death penalty is crucial. So Sr. Mary Ann Walsh’s loose writing surprised me. Obviously, this is an emotional topic.
However to unequivocally say that “[t]he death penalty is vengeance and a penalty to be reserved to the One who doesn’t make mistakes” is either overly emotional or carelessly written. Though one can argue that modern use of the death penalty is often a form of vengeance, to attribute the act of penalizing a person with death to God who is love is inarguable.
Furthermore I was disappointed in her attempt to make an argument against the death penalty predominantly based on the imperfections of humanity, namely we are capable of making mistakes. According to Sr. Walsh’s “number one reason,” we should not even prosecute crimes for fear of incarcerating an innocent person. How barbarous is it to lock away an innocent person for life? Of all the “political games” for the USCCB to post about, I would have expected more. I would have expected a more sound argument against the heinousness of such acts or a more honest approach to a very complex justice system in which the State does have a right to protect and defend life, even to use capital punishment. The step the State should take should be one for a culture of life—a step rarely taken too far.
Despite Sr. Walsh’s assumption that there is “contemporary Catholic teaching” that contradicts authentic Catholic teaching, there is a clear continuity in the Church teachings, even on the topic of capital punishment. Unfortunately her use of the USCCB’s Media Blog seems to have opened wide the doors to personalized proselytizing to her brand of “contemporary” Catholicism. Is this really what Pope John Paul II advocated for in his call for a “new evangelization”?
