BUILDING A CULTURE OF LIFE,

PART I

Doing Faith Justice Ch.4

Compassion for All

Christians are called to have compassion for all people – including

______________________________.

“Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destructions…whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment,

deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain…all these things are infamies indeed.”The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes, 1965)

Two convictions lie at the heart of the Catholic approach to life

issues: ________________________

Each human life comes from God,

is always loved

by God, and is

meant to return

to God.

____________________________All people have equal dignity and an equal

claim to fundamental human rights.

Capital Punishment: Why oppose it? (124)

“__________________________

__________________________.” (Living the Gospel of Life, 22).

1. God never stops loving us, even when we reject that love. Although we harm our dignity when we do violence to others, our dignity and right to life is not taken away.

2. The primary aim of punishment is to heal the harm that was caused through the criminal action, as well as to:___________________help the guilty person correct his/her

behavior

Pope John Paul II on Capital Punishment

“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.

I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty,

____________________________________.”

3. Not only is the Death Penalty Cruel and Unusual:

It is Flawed It reflects the flaws of our criminal-justice

system, as we read in the document from the DP Information Center. There have been an almost equal number of white

and black murder victims, but 76% of the people executed on death row were executed

________________________________. ** A) Anecdotes from Sr. Helen Prejean, Northwestern

University, p.125, paragraphs 3-5. How many innocent peoples’ deaths on death row is ‘too many’?

How do worldviews shape our thoughts on what it means to ‘choose life’? One says we are fully alive when we

_______________________. The other says we are fully alive when we

_______________________.

What are the disadvantages to the first worldview?

‘We are what we have’ says:

It is the right of people to have more than they need, even though poverty causes death for others.

People who cause a burden to others are

_________________________. The quality of life is the only measure of whether it is worth

living.Euthanasia is preferred

over life with suffering.

‘We strive to be true to who we are’ says: People should share what they have with others,

especially those who do not have ___________________. All people are gifts of God, even those who

require extra care. Life is worth living even if it involves suffering; _______________________________

into something good. All human life comes from God and is meant to

return to God---possessions, careers, and even our bodies will eventually pass away.

The Consistent Life Ethic: “Protecting the life and dignity of any person requires that we

protect the life and dignity of all people.” J.C. Bernardin See p.131.

Whenever society decides that one person or group is less human than another, or not human at all, it suggests that human dignity is not given by God but depends on the judgment of others. Why could this be problematic?One reason: Once society accepts this

notion, all people--especially those with less power--become vulnerable.

The Consistent Life Ethic AKA The Seamless Garment

We cannot ‘tear apart’ the issues of abortion, poverty, capital punishment, racism, war, and other issues that affect human life and dignity. They all impact our right to life, the most important right because all other rights depend on it.

This concept is named for Jesus’ seamless tunic that could not be torn apart after the crucifixion because it was made of a whole cloth.

Retributive Justice: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”

An approach to criminal justice in which the emphasis is on

______________________________ Reasons include:

Certain crimes are so violent that in committing them, offenders forfeit their human rights

Certain crimes harm society so much that the only way of restoring justice is to make the offender experience the same level of harm he/she caused society

Restorative Justice: Restoring the good that has been harmed by criminal activity—for the victims, the community, and the offender.

Focuses on the harm of wrongdoing more than the ________________________________________

Shows equal concern to victims and offenders Works toward the restoration of victims Supports offenders while encouraging them to

understand, accept, and carry out their obligations Provides opportunities for dialogue between victims

and offenders, as appropriate Involves the affected community through the justice

process

Restorative justice suggests that healing for victims is linked to

_________________________________. The idea of offering healing to someone

who has caused incredible pain seems impossible to many. Yet many people do offer healing, as evidenced by the national organization Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation.

** B) Story of Marietta Jaeger, bottom of p.132-1st column p.133 What do you think of Marietta’s rationale for opposing the death penalty (last paragraph)?

Victim-Offender Mediation and Dialogue Goal: for the victim to be heard and for the

offender to take accountability for his or her actions. Once this occurs, healing can happen __________________________________.

A mediator helps criminal offenders and their victims carefully work toward the goal of talking to each other—this is done after both parties take time to examine their feelings and attitudes.

** C) Story of Thomas Ann Hines, p.133, last paragraph –p.134 Why do you think Hines was able to have compassion for her son’s killer?

Euthanasia The intentional killing of someone whose life is _____________________________________ The church believes in using ordinary and morally

acceptable means to preserve life, even the lives of those who face death.

The church holds that the decision to forego using extraordinary or disproportionate means to sustain life is morally acceptable.

We can judge this based on:

Kind of treatment usedIts intensity and riskIts costs and possibilities of using it

History of Abortion in the U.S. It was legalized in 1973 by the Supreme

Court in Roe vs. Wade. This decision held that a woman’s right

to privacy included her decision to have an abortion.

Why do women have abortions?

Data from “Reasons US Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives.” 2005

Rape/incest 1%

Not ready for a child 33%

Has completed childbearing 40%

Relationship issues/No desire to be single mom 48%

Can't afford a child 73%

Work, education, inability to care for child 74%

33% 67% 100%

Even the youngesthave the right to live…

Few people question whether human life begins at conception.

From the very beginning, the new being has all of the genetic characteristics (gender, height, hair color) that makes

______________________.

Supporters of legalized abortion often argue that this human life is not a

human person because he or she lacks most of the physical characteristics we associate with personhood.However, the value of a human being does

not depend on his state of development. You were not less human as a baby than you are now.

Supporters of legalized abortion sometimes argue that the value of human life depends on the

___________________________.Though the evil of rape cannot be

overstated, the child who is conceived by rape has the same dignity and rights as any other child.

The child should not be victimized… “My mother was a victim of an assault,

but she did not choose to victimize me. I was not given the death penalty for the crime of my father. I was given the greatest gift that any of us could give—life.”

-Julie Makimaa, quoted in You Are My Daughter written by Podell

Ways we can all work within society to make it easier for families to choose life: Legislation- this includes issues such as

welfare for each child in the family, which can lead to decisions to abort.

Changing Sexual Behavior- education Addressing Poverty- support/lobby for

poverty-reducing measures and support crisis pregnancy centers

Make workplaces and schools more parent-friendly

Stop violence against women

It doesn’t end here… “If one contends that that right of every

fetus to be born should be protected….then our moral, political, and economic responsibilities do not stop at the moment of birth. Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless: the old and young, hungry and homeless, undocumented and unemployed…”

Cardinal Bernardin