Important votes

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

Related articles: from Nov. 3, 2006 issue: • Bishops agree: Catholics obliged to vote     Voters will face a variety of issues     and candidates, but voting remains our duty • Eye on the Capitol --     Voting foils aim of negative ads     Whole purpose of the ads is to keep people     from polls • Stewardship: A Way of Life --     Faithful Citizenship 2006 (Last in a seven-part     election series)     Choose Life: Oppose the death penalty -     Questions and Answers on Wisconsin's     advisory referendum to reinstate     the death penalty • Find more election resources on our Links page.

Wisconsin voters will face two referenda in the Nov. 7 election.

The first is a proposed constitutional amendment to specify that "only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage of unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."

The second, an advisory, non-binding measure, asks if the death penalty should be enacted in Wisconsin for "a person who is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, if the conviction is supported by DNA evidence."

Wisconsin's Catholic bishops have urged Catholics to vote "Yes" on the marriage amendment and "No" on the death penalty.

In supporting the marriage amendment, the bishops say: "The witness of scripture and our Catholic tradition teach that marriage, as instituted by God, is between one man and one woman. It is within this unique bond of mutual and reciprocal marital love that a man and a woman become one. This reciprocal love reflects the natural 'complementarity' between men and women. This complementarity blends the differences between men and women and enables them to cooperate physically, emotionally and psychologically."

The Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the bishops' civil arm, argues that the amendment would not affect "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships" and that "current laws that grant only some benefits to unmarried couples won't automatically be affected by the amendment."

The bishops state well the need for a yes vote, especially given the activist rulings by judges in some states.

Concerning the death penalty, its opponents include Pope John Paul II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Wisconsin's bishops.

Put simply, the death penalty is anti-life. It does not promote healing among victims' families, as people such as Bud Welch, whose daughter Julie was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, attest. Innocent people sometimes are found guilty - more than 120 death row inmates have been exonerated since the 1970s; it's unclear how many people were wrongly executed. DNA tests are not infallible and don't necessarily prove guilt. Rich people do not receive the death penalty - poor people and minorities do. The death penalty costs taxpayers more than life in prison - a State of Kansas study set that cost at 70% more. And the death penalty doesn't make us safer - the murder rate in death penalty states was 42% higher in 2004 than in non-death penalty states.

And finally, what would Jesus do? When the woman caught in adultery was brought before him, he personally saved her from death by stoning (Jn 8:1-11). It's also hard to imagine that Jesus, who was killed as a common criminal - but who preached peace and came to make all things new - would approve of it.

Join Wisconsin's bishops and do the right thing - what Jesus would do - and vote "No" on the death penalty.