Does society make a coherent statement against killing by killing?

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during the annual Red Mass for Catholic legal professionals in Broward, hosted by the St. Thomas More Society. The Mass was celebrated Oct. 18, 2022 at St. Anthony Church in Fort Lauderdale.

The death penalty debate arouses deep passions and strong convictions. People of goodwill will and do disagree. Those on both sides of this debate share the hurt and horror, the loss and heartbreak that was the result of Nikolas Cruz’s despicable acts of violence on February 14, 2018. I offer neither judgment nor condemnation of those who disagree with the outcome of the penalty: life imprisonment without parole. I presided at two funerals of MSD victims. And so, I appreciate that many of the survivors are angry and hurting. While, for many, a death sentence might offer the illusion of closure and vindication, no act – not even an execution – can bring back a loved one or heal terrible wounds.

As I said in a statement released after the verdict was announced last week: A sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole is a severe and just punishment that also will allow Nikolas Cruz to continue to reflect on the grave harm he caused. While not excusing his actions, it is clear that multiple and systemic breakdowns within family services, police, and the public school system failed him and the rest of us as well. Seemingly nobody recognized the inadequacies in Mr. Cruz’s life or the state of his mental health. His numerous threats of violence that preceded the mass murder were addressed inadequately, if at all.

We have to ask ourselves, does society really make a coherent statement against killing by killing? The argument has been made that the application of the death penalty represents the legitimate self-defense of society from an unjust aggressor, i.e., the murderer. And, historically, the Church has conceded the point that the state can rightly apply capital punishment when absolutely necessary, i.e., when otherwise impossible to defend society.

There is, in Church teaching, no moral equivalence between the execution of the guilty after due process of law and the willful destruction of innocent life that happens with abortion or euthanasia. However, Pope Saint John Paul II pointed out in Evangelium Vitae (no. 56): Given the organization of today’s penal system and the option of imposing life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, such an “absolute necessity” is “practically non-existent.” And Pope Francis more recently called recourse to capital punishment as “inadmissible.”

Willful murder is a heinous crime; it cries to God for justice. Yet God did not require Cain’s life for having spilt Abel’s blood. While God certainly punished history’s first murderer, he nevertheless put a mark on him to protect Cain from those wishing to kill him to avenge Abel’s murder (cf. Gn 4:15). Like Cain, a murderer — for all the evil of his crimes — remains a person. Human dignity — that of the convicted as well as our own — is best served by not resorting to this extreme and unnecessary punishment. Modern society has the means to protect itself without the death penalty.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Parkland verdict, we all can applaud the fact the even in these divisive and polarized times and despite the heinous and unspeakable horror of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas mass murders, our legal system worked. Our American system of justice and due process prevailed over vigilantism or mob justice. As Americans we are ruled by law — not by despots or by mobs.

Your craft as lawyers and as officers of the court has as its foundation, its reason for being, the principle emblazoned on the façade of the United States Supreme Court building, “Equal justice under the law.” Equal justice is befitting for those who know themselves to be children of God and makes possible that belonging — e pluribus unum — in which we as Americans find our identity and the security that enables human flourishing in these United States.

In today’s Gospel reading, we see Jesus appointing “seventy-two of his disciples” to announce that the Kingdom of God was at hand. From the distance of two thousand years, we perhaps do not realize how daunting, and how dangerous, this must have been. After all, Jesus did warn them that he was sending them like lambs to the wolves. St. Luke – whose feast day we celebrate today – as well as your patron, St. Thomas More, were executed by state actors.

One way or another, discipleship has a cost. To follow Jesus is never easy – because Jesus takes us to the narrow way, not to “easy street.” And today, you, as Catholics and as judges and members of the bar, if you are to be the effective presence of Christ in the world today, you cannot be ashamed or afraid of those very real demands of discipleship that Jesus boldly makes on those who would be his followers.

As a bishop I do a lot of confirmations. In the confirmation ritual, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Paraclete, a word borrowed from the Greek, Paracletos. In the Gospel according to St. John, which was originally written in Greek, Jesus refers four times to the Holy Spirit as Paracletos.

When I am confirming, I try to take care to pronounce “paraclete” carefully; but I am sure that the kids — and their parents — hear parakeet. This Greek word — paracletos, not parakeet —can be translated as Counselor, Advocate, Helper, and Comforter. Literally, it means “one called alongside of” to aid, exhort and encourage.

We should not be surprised, therefore, to learn that this Greek word was used in legal settings to refer to an attorney making a defense in court on behalf of someone accused. Thus, the Holy Spirit as “paraclete” is given to us, Christians, to stand beside us in support as we battle temptation and endure the trials of this world and to rebut the accusations of the “Accuser,” that is the devil. (Apologies to any prosecutors here today.)

Nor should we be surprised that lawyers — both defenders and prosecutors — and judges should feel the need to invoke the help and encouragement of the Holy Spirit as they carry out their duties as officers of the court: For you are Counselors, Advocates, Helpers, and Comforters as citizens navigate their way through our legal system.

Today we honor you and your noble vocation — and your dedication and devotion to the rule of law.

And so, we pray that you, members of the bar, following the example of Sir Thomas More, whom we invoke as Saint Thomas More, may be true “paracletes.” Filled with the wisdom and courage of the Holy Spirit, may you “stand alongside of” your fellow citizens as Counselors, Advocates, Helpers, and Comforters.

And so, for you, we pray, Come Holy Spirit.