Fight to the finish

Catholic Church leaders this summer gave everyone who favors abolition of the death penalty in the U.S. cause to rejoice. Consider the following:

-- Pope John Paul in late July asked Virginia Gov. James Gilmore to commute the death sentence of Derek Rocco Barnabei, who is scheduled to die Sept. 14 for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend.

-- Abp. Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City called for a moratorium on executions in Oklahoma, where 10 people have been executed this year. He called on Christians to reflect on how Christ forgave his oppressors.

-- The Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., and the bishops of Indiana issued separate educational videos explaining the church's opposition to capital punishment.

-- The U.S. bishops included in the packet for parish observations of Respect Life Month in October an article opposing the death penalty. The article by Dominican Fr. Augustine Judd. It explores arguments for and against capital punishment and the reasons Catholic leaders increasingly oppose any use of the death penalty.

In addition, the U.S. bishops are writing a statement on the U.S. criminal justice system. The first draft was highly critical of America's reliance on "more and more prisons, more and more executions" as the answer to crime.

And not a moment too soon. There have been more executions in the U.S. in the past 4½ years than there were in the previous 19 years following restoration of capital punishment in 1976. And the rate is increasing. There were 45 executions in 1996, 74 in 1997, 68 in 1998, 98 in 1999, and 52 - a rate of two a week - in the first six months of 2000.

As the Gospels, Pope John Paul and our bishops clearly state, the death penalty has no place in a civilized society, particularly one that calls itself Christian. We need to abolish this barbarous practice.