142: Capital Punishment and the Catholic Church ft. McKenna Smith
The Catholic Feminist
Claire Swinarski
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The death penalty is a topic I’ve been interested in for a long time, and I’m so pleased to be discussing it today with McKenna. McKenna is a grad student who comes to us with a passion for capital punishment and it’s place in the pro-life discourse. As Sr. Helen Prejean says, “people are more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives.” McKenna and I discuss what inspired her to learn more about this area of criminal justice, what resources we should turn to if we’re interested in getting involved, and what the church’s official position on the death penalty is.
When Jesus shows mercy in the gospels, he instructs us to do the same. Not once, but over and over. Is this an easy task? No. But Catholics were not made for ease, for comfort, for popular opinion. We were made for mercy and justice, and in following Christ’s lead, I believe we can be a truly pro-life people. Enjoy our conversation!
Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible. For a free audiobook and a free 30-day-trial, head to audibletrial.com/catholic.
Today’s episode is also brought to you by Every Sacred Sunday. For one of their beautiful 2020 Mass journals, go to everysacredsunday.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the Catholic feminist episode 142. |
| 0:04.0 | Today we're talking all about the death penalty. |
| 0:07.0 | Today's episode has been brought to you by audible. |
| 0:10.0 | For a free audio book and a free 30-day trial, head to audible trial. |
| 0:14.0 | Com slash Catholic. |
| 0:15.0 | Today's episode is also brought to you by Every Sacred Sunday. |
| 0:19.0 | Snaig one of their beautiful mass journals at every sacred Sunday.com. |
| 0:23.3 | Welcome to the Catholic feminist, a |
| 0:27.9 | podcast for strong women who want to be informed, inspired, |
| 0:31.3 | and intentional. I'm your host, Claire, and I'm happy |
| 0:52.1 | to be here and I'm happy you're here. I know that these are crazy times, |
| 0:56.0 | they're hard times. For those of you listening in the future, we are knee-deep in the coronavirus pandemic at the moment, |
| 1:02.4 | but if you're on a solo walk right now or |
| 1:05.1 | if you're washing the dishes or if you're hiding in the bathroom from your |
| 1:08.8 | children I am honored that we are what you chose to listen to. Today on the show we are talking about a topic |
| 1:15.6 | that I have wanted to cover literally for years. When we started the podcast I wanted to do an |
| 1:21.5 | episode on the death penalty and so I am thrilled that we are finally |
| 1:25.0 | doing one. |
| 1:26.3 | We are talking today to McKenna Smith. |
| 1:29.1 | She is a graduate student here to talk to us all about what the death penalty is, what it has looked like |
| 1:35.1 | historically, and why it needs to be part of the pro-life conversation. |
| 1:40.3 | I've been really passionate about capital punishment for many years and I'm excited to learn more about it from McKenna today. |
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