Corrections Ministries / Deacon John Cord

Together we must stand up against all forms of capital punishment

A few weeks ago, I read an article that made me sad and sick. Indiana has decided to resume executing people who are on death row. It has been 15 years since the last person was executed. We at archdiocesan Corrections Ministries were hopeful that we had put this barbarous practice behind us. But no. The are five men who could be executed in the coming months.

The last execution was in 2009. After that execution, a lawsuit was filed against the state prohibiting it from using the drug cocktail they had used for the previous executions. However, a new drug was recently approved called pentobarbital. This drug is extremely difficult to procure. Somehow, Indiana has purchased enough of this drug to execute five people. The state won’t tell where it acquired this drug. Experts believe the cost could be as high as $35,000 per dose.

The first man scheduled to be executed is Joseph Cocoran, who admitted to police a heinous murder of four people he committed in 1997. He was found guilty during a trial in 1999. The Indiana Supreme Court last month set Corcoran’s execution date for Dec. 18 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

Cocoran, however, is diagnosed with severe paranoid schizophrenia. His doctors all agree that his illness made it nearly impossible for him to understand the gravity of the crime he committed.

In the state of Indiana, this illness should have been taken into consideration at sentencing. However, his judge and subsequent judges have chosen to ignore his illness. The final decree as of a few weeks ago is that he must die.

Pope Francis has written many times that all nations must eliminate the death penalty. We are being told that he plans to write about this again in the coming months. His goal is to require that the Catholic Church should always and everywhere take a stand against the death penalty.

As Catholics, we believe in the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. We believe that every person, whether a child in the mother’s womb, a young boy or girl, a grown woman or man—regardless if they are mentally ill, an immigrant, homeless or a prisoner—is valuable in the eyes of our Father. We all have a purpose. We are all placed here to fulfill that purpose. We cannot destroy a human life. We must allow God to complete his purpose for every one of his children.

We also talk about justice. We know that justice must be served. We also talk about mercy. We pray for God’s mercy.

But how can we be merciful and just at the same time? Our example is Jesus Christ. We must look at how he died for us. He died for us to cleanse us of our sins. We do not deserve to have our sins simply washed away. That is not just. But yet, we beg for mercy. And yet we see Jesus in his infinite mercy taking on the punishment that we deserve. Is that fair?

No. But he did it anyway. We cannot take the place of God. We are not capable of giving that kind of mercy while taking the justice a person deserves upon ourselves.

We must stand up against all forms of capital punishment. We cannot stand idly by and watch our brothers and sisters die. Please contact your legislators, Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office (317-232-4567) or Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office (317-232-6201).
 

(Deacon John Cord is the coordinator of Corrections Ministry for the archdiocese. For more information on supporting the office’s re-entry ministry, contact Deacon Cord at 317-432-6604 or e-mail jcord@archindy.org.) †