OPINION: Choosing Life - All Life

My family and friends used to tease me mercilessly about the number of jobs, colleges, and addresses I had during my 20s and 30s. I had a few. In the employment arena I did everything from stock salad bars at a local pizza chain to filing court motions in a criminal law office. I was “finding myself.” And while I was finding myself, I gathered a wealth of experiences that continue to serve me in many new situations.

During my brief legal career, I worked for an attorney who practiced mostly criminal law. One of his cases was a high profile crime involving murder and a sentence of the death penalty for two of the defendants. I remember reading the transcripts from the County Sherriff’s interviews. They were the stuff of nightmares, and, worst of all, I formed my opinion of the defendants based on those transcripts and the ultimate jury decision of death. And God was there with me, taking careful note of my indifference to the dignity of human life.

Years later, this time working in a Catholic ministry, I had the opportunity to encounter those two defendants who had been sentenced to death and whose lives I had judged based on the civil practice of law. I was working with members of Nebraskans for an Alternative to the Death Penalty and they were organizing one of their regular visits to Nebraska’s death row. I was invited.

I was very nervous and, in fact, did not tell my family where I was going or what I was doing. I knew they would worry, but I was going to go regardless. The day came at we met at a friend’s apartment and car-pooled for the ride to the maximum security facility in Tecumseh, Nebraska, where death row is housed. Prior to this visit, I had taken it upon myself (or more accurately, God had put it upon me) to write to one of the inmates. He was one of the gentlemen who had been part of the legal action prosecuted by the attorney in my office.

I started my first letter to him by saying, “Dear [name], I was working for “XYZ” attorney when you were sentenced to death for the murder of [name]….” And I went on from there. I’m embarrassed now when I think back to how I introduced myself to this man. His first letter back to me was polite but clear; “Dear Mrs. Severes, Thank you for reaching out to me. However, I am innocent. I did not murder [name]…” He went on to talk of many things and we corresponded for some years after that.

We did meet that night in Tecumseh with several other members from Nebraskans for an Alternative to the Death penalty. It was a nerve-wracking experience filled with rules and guards and surveillance and guns and whispers and jokes and hugs and vending machine treats and awkward silences. I went to death row just once, but the experience changed me forever. But the fact that it changed me forever is the problem. It shouldn’t have taken this personal encounter. As a faithful Catholic, I should have understood the sanctity of life. Pro-life issues were occupying different parts of my conscience and those different parts needed to meld.

Today, the death penalty is still an option in Nebraska. Yes, we continue to defend life by objecting to mandated insurance for contraception, legalized abortion, and the specter of euthanasia, but 37 opportunities to repeal the death penalty have been met with defeat in our Unicameral. Why? This compartmentalized understanding of being pro-life has failed to build the coalition we need to defend life fully.

Our faith teaches us that all life, from conception to natural death, is sacred and must be preserved against destruction. St. John Paul II, writing in 1995 reminds us, “The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.” (Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995) And isn’t “the chance to reform” the gift we all hope and pray for; our ability to seek and be granted God’s mercy and forgiveness, even at the hour of our death? God extends the same gift to the men on death row.

Our American Bishops writing in 1998, stated; “Adopting a consistent ethic of life, the Catholic Church promotes a broad spectrum of issues ‘seeking to protect human life and promote human dignity from the inception of life to its final moment.’ Opposition to abortion and euthanasia does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice. Any politics of human life must work to resist the violence of war and the scandal of capital punishment.” (Living the Gospel Of Life, 1998, pp. 22, and Pursuing the Common Good, p. 12). It’s never been an “either/or” situation; either we defend life in the womb, OR we lobby against capital punishment and war. It’s both/and.

In his Lenten Message for 2015, Pope Francis has asked us to “give up” indifference for Lent. He gently chides us saying, “Indifference to our neighbor and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience.” (Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for Lent 2015) There are many prophets among us, “troubling” us with their questions and challenges. And wouldn’t that make things simpler; the quick answer? We are uncomfortable, irritated, pushed, and left without a quick answer. We abhor the crimes allegedly committed by the men on death row, but we do not abhor the men, our brothers in Christ.

Our Nebraska Unicameral will soon debate the repeal of the death penalty for the 38th time. Will we be the voice of the prophet troubling the death penalty proponents, and defending life; all life?

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