California Bishops Support Life and Family Initiatives

Measures Will Require Parental Notification and
End the Use of the Death Penalty

(En Español) Due to the convergence of two initiatives whose sponsors are seeking their placement on California’s November 2012 ballot, we Catholic bishops have been presented a unique teaching moment on life and family.

As Catholics, we believe and teach that we bear the image of God. We come to life as the result of humanity’s collaboration in God’s creative work. Ordinarily, each child is the result of the loving union of a man and woman who have formed a family. The family then cradles the newborn, raises up the child and guides the young person’s development to adulthood. As citizens, we believe that government serves best when it supports families in their irreplaceable task of nurturing the next generation.

Pope Encourages Elimination of the Death Penalty

Pope Benedict XVI encouraged organizers from around the world to continue their work to end the death penalty. He spoke to participants, including a delegation from Illinois, who were attending a conference sponsored by the lay movement Community of Sant’Egidio:

“I express my hope that your deliberations will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty,” said His Holiness, “and to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order.”

CCC Statement on Ending the Use of the Death Penalty

The California Catholic Conference issued this statement in September 2010, just days before a subsequent execution that was later cancelled.

Most Reverend Gerald Wilkerson, Auxiliary Bishop for the San Fernando Pastoral Region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and President of the California Catholic Conference, released the following statement today expressing strong support for an end to the use of the death penalty in California and asking for clemency for any individual scheduled for execution.

The California Catholic Conference strongly supports an end to the use of the death penalty and affirms the 2005 statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, which launched the U.S. Bishops Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty.

Background on New Lethal Injection Regulations

san-quentin150 On June 11, 2010, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) again proposed changes to the lethal injection procedures that had previously been released to the public for review twice, once in May 2009 and again in January 2010. The most recent changes came after the state agency that oversees the rulemaking process (the Office of Administrative Law) rejected the proposed regulations. Any member of the public may comment on the changes, whether or not that person commented on the proposed regulations before. The CDCR must read and respond to all relevant comments.

Summary Analysis of Changes

I. The regulations now require that reporters who witness the execution be "reputable citizens," without explaining the term-this is confusing and potentially unfair.

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