Defense of a "Seamless Garment"

An American Cardinal opposes abortion and executions

The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally seen no contradiction in its opposition to abortion and its teaching that capital punishment can be morally licit. But Catholic criticism of the death penalty is growing stronger, even as the church remains steadfast in its belief that abortion is equivalent to murder.

At New York City's Fordham University last week, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, perhaps the most influential U.S. archbishop, defended the linking of opposition to both abortion and capital punishment by arguing that these "prolife" policies constitute a "seamless garment." Bernardin also spoke on a subject with which he has become closely identified: opposition to the nuclear arms race. Rejections of abortion and nuclear war, he declared, are "specific applications of this broader attitude" to life. He noted: "We have also opposed the death penalty because we do not think its use cultivates an attitude of respect for life in society."

In Bernardin, the American Catholic hierarchy may have found a leader with enough personal appeal to gain a hearing among both liberals and conservatives for the belief that all issues relating to "the sanctity of life" belong together. The scope of the issues is growing: U.S. abortions now total 1.5 million a year, 1,270 convicts are waiting on America's death rows, and the nuclear arms race is escalating.

To some extent the Linking of these three pro-life issues by the U.S. bishops differs from the views of Pope John Paul II, who has yet to issue a blanket condemnation of capital punishment. The Pope and the U.S. bishops are united in believing that threats to human life, including abortion and the nuclear arms race, are major moral problems for our time.

As Bernardin explained last week, the American bishops do not deny the traditional Catholic teaching that the state has a right to execute criminals, but they oppose the exercise of that right. Some individual bishops have gone further. Florida's seven bishops declared this year that capital punishment is "not compatible with the Gospel." They enlisted John Paul to join in an extraordinary appeal for clemency in the case of Robert Sullivan, whom they believed to be innocent of murder. Despite the Pope's plea to Governor Bob Graham, Sullivan was executed on Nov. 30. The staff of the U.S. Catholic Conference in Washington plans to put greater emphasis on the bishops' stance on the death penalty next year.

In his Fordham speech, Bernardin followed the lead of other U.S. prelates in extending the "life" agenda to questioning human genetic engineering, opposing mercy-killing and advocating Government aid to the needy. The same commitment to life, said the Cardinal, underlies the bishops' repeated criticism of Reagan Administration policy in Central America, for relying "predominantly on the threat offeree" rather than diplomacy.

This was Bernardin's first full-dress policy statement since he succeeded the late Terence Cardinal Cooke as chairman of the bishops' Pro-Life Activities Committee. Bernardin's speech appeared to signal a renewed effort by the American church to redirect the country's thinking on what the Cardinal called the "ethic of life." It was an attempt to get liberals to re-examine the morality of abortion. Equally it was an appeal to those conservatives who condemn abortion to extend their pro-life commitment to opposing the nuclear arms race and capital punishment. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.