A former student of mine works for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. He asked me to write a guest column for the diocesan newspaper clarifying what the teaching of the Catholic Church is regarding the death penalty. Since this is a topic of interest to many people, both Catholics and non-Catholics – in the few days since I wrote the column, there has been local and national media coverage of a statement by the Massachusetts Catholic bishops opposing the death penalty for the Boston Marathon bomber – and since along the way I commented on the relationship between the death penalty on the one hand and abortion and euthanasia on the other, I thought I’d share the column here.
Kevin Miller
Kevin E. Miller is Assistant Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. His BS (biochemistry and molecular biology), MA (political philosophy), and PhD (theology; dissertation: "Mercy, Justice, and Politics: John Paul II on Capital Punishment") are all from Marquette University. Besides several UFL conference papers over the years, he has contributed chapters to books on sexual morality and Catholic social thought, and published short essays, papers, and book reviews in Linacre Quarterly, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, and Communio, among other journals. In fundamental moral theology, he is especially interested in natural-law theory, virtue ethics, and the distinctively Christian contribution to moral thought. In applied moral theology, he works especially in the areas of sexual, social, and medical/health-care morality. With regard to texts/authors, he studies especially Scripture, Aquinas, Henri de Lubac, and John Paul II. His website: http://www.franciscan.edu/faculty/MillerK/
