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Q u i c k Q u e s t i o n s
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This Rock
Volume 15, Number 2
 February 2004 
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Avoid the "Hang ’Em High!" Attitude
Q: Could you please tell me where Scripture backs up the Catholic teaching on the death penalty?
A: Let’s first define what the Church’s teaching on the death penalty is.
The Church continues to uphold its traditional teaching that the state has the right and duty to protect general society from violent offenders, including by means of the death penalty if non-lethal means are insufficient to protect lives in an individual case. What the Church strongly encourages today is that the state do all that it can to satisfy its duty to protect society through non-lethal means, which are in better conformity to the human dignity of the offender and prevent the state from growing callous and imprudent in its application of the death penalty. It also prevents society from developing the "hang ’em high!" attitude that is unfortunately all too prevalent in countries that permit widespread use of the death penalty.
As for scriptural support for the Church’s modern pastoral approach to the death penalty, we can look to God’s mercy on murderers such as Cain and King David (cf. Gen. 4:1–16; 2 Sam. 12) as examples of extending mercy to those who, by reason of their crimes, could justly have been put to death.
Q: Can grandparents be godparents for their grandchild?
A: Part of the reason for having godparents is to help provide for the child’s upbringing in the Catholic faith. It is important that the ages of the godparents would enable them to do this if the parents die or become incapacitated in some way. If the grandparents are young enough, there is no problem. Canon law does not forbid it.
Q: I’ve been noticing growing differences between cradle Catholics and converts from Protestant communions. From the grabbing of hands during the Lord’s Prayer to rock bands at Mass, many uncomfortable Protestant characteristics seem to be drifting into Catholic culture. Recently I even heard a Catholic convert state that cradle Catholics are not "true" Catholics! Do you think that conflicts between cradles and converts will lead to any sort of schism in the Church?
A: The "Protestantizing" tendency you note in some Catholic circles is not necessarily causally connected to the relatively recent influx of Protestant converts to the Church. On the contrary, many converts enter the Church looking for a much more traditional liturgical worship and strong adherence to Church authority and discipline, and are disappointed to find practices and patterns that very much resemble what they had hoped to leave behind in Protestantism.
Liturgical abuses are often either spontaneous innovations or are introduced by hopefully sincere but misinformed liturgists. In either case, the way to address the innovations is the same: Give your pastor the documentation that proves that these innovations are not in line with the Church’s liturgical guidelines and request that, based on this documentation, he end them.
As for the remark by the Catholic convert that "cradle Catholics" are not true Catholics, obviously this is an unjust generalization. The sacraments are what make us true Catholics, not how well we use the graces the sacraments give us. If some cradle and convert Catholics refuse to live up to the requirements of the faith, they are still Catholics, though poor ones.
Q: I am a fifteen-year-old girl interested in becoming a nun. I am wondering what the requirements are for being a nun.
A: The requirements differ depending on the order and its particular charism. For example, some orders may require that their members have a college degree; for others that may not be necessary. Together with your parents, contact the vocations directors of a few orders that interest you and ask for their requirements.
Often you can find information about a particular order (especially the major orders) over the Internet. Search for the name of the order, and you may find its official web site. There you’ll find the contact information you need. Another good site is www.religiouslife.com.
If you can’t find an official web site, or are uncertain that the Internet information is reliable, your parish or diocesan office can help you find accurate contact information for an order that interests you.
Q: On television I heard a woman state that she believes women should be priests, and that she was upset when she read the latest encyclical Pope John Paul issued about how Catholics cannot receive communion in a non-Catholic church. As a revert Catholic, I thought when you become Catholic you accept the Church’s teachings without open disagreement. Am I alone in this thinking?
A: Your thinking is correct, and you are certainly not alone, although you may not often see other non-dissenting Catholics on mainstream television.
Regarding the issues the woman mentioned, John Paul II definitively ruled out the possibility that the Church had the authority to ordain women in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. However much this lady might hope for the ordination of women, it won’t happen because the Church can’t ordain women. Men are the valid "matter" for the sacrament of holy orders, just as surely as water is for baptism and wine for the precious blood.
As for receiving communion in a Protestant church, Catholics believe that the Eucharist is a sign of unity. This is one of the reasons that Protestants can’t ordinarily receive Communion in Catholic churches. The same holds true in the opposite direction: For a Catholic to receive Protestant communion would not only give the impression that the Protestant version is valid, but it would also create a false sense of unity.
Beyond that, when you realize that non-Catholic churches don’t have a valid Eucharist, you have to wonder why any Catholic would want to receive communion in Protestant churches. Perhaps what this woman really lacks is an adequate appreciation of what we as Catholics have in the Blessed Sacrament.
Q: Can you tell me if vespers can be led by a layperson? I went to our church for adoration and at that time they held vespers, led by our music director. He and another woman walked up the center aisle, and then he stood at the altar and sat in the priest’s chair. Can you tell me if this is okay?
A: One does not have to be a priest or deacon to lead the Liturgy of the Hours—provided that a priest or deacon is not present. Non-clerical religious have been doing it for centuries. If a priest or deacon is present, he should lead.
Furthermore, while a layperson can lead the Liturgy of the Hours, he should do it from his pew—not from the presidential chair. Nothing should be done that would blur the role of the laity with that of the priest. There is no reason for the lay leader to sit in the chair that is reserved for the priest-presider or to stand at the altar.
Q: If our Holy Father were to, heaven forbid, resign due to bad health and inability to exercise the requirements of his office, would he still, after resigning and having another man take his place, be able to speak infallibly in matters of faith and morals?
A: If the current pope resigned, he would no longer be serving as the pope. His successor would. He would retain his sacramental powers as bishop, but the juridical powers of his office would belong to his successor. The protection of the Holy Spirit, preventing the Church from teaching error in matters of faith and morals, belongs to the office of the papacy and not to the person in that office.
Q: The newspaper in our area runs a religion article on holy days for various religions. However, there was no coverage of the feast of the Assumption, a feast as important to the faith as Christmas or Easter. I also find it disrespectful when newspapers take a picture of Mass right at the consecration. Should I write a letter of complaint to the newspaper and have local Catholics and Orthodox sign it?
A: While it is good to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper when there are legitimate concerns about journalistic slights to Catholicism and Orthodoxy, please keep two cautions in mind:
First, as important to Catholics and Orthodox as the feast of the Assumption (called the Dormition by Orthodox) is, it should not be put on par with the Nativity and Resurrection of our Lord. Easter is the foremost holy day for Christians because, as Paul told the Corinthians, "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Cor. 15:14). As St. Augustine put it, "We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our cry." Christmas is the second most important holy day because it made Easter possible.
The importance of our Lady’s Assumption is that it shows her total union with her Son and is a sign to us of our eternal destiny. But in the hierarchy of truths the Assumption is "lower" or less central than the Resurrection or the Incarnation, and the feast of the Assumption is correspondingly lower in importance than Easter or Christmas. These holy days primarily celebrate Christ, to whom our Blessed Mother always points us.
Second, there is nothing inherently wrong with photographs of the moment of consecration as long as the act of taking the picture does not distract from the solemnity of the moment (e.g., no flash bulbs) and the photograph is not used to mock our Lord. Simply using the photograph as an "icon," of sorts, to represent Catholicism is not sacrilege. In fact, Mass Appeal, Catholic Answers’ own booklet on the Mass by our director of apologetics and evangelization, Jimmy Akin, has such a photograph on its cover.
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Catholic Answers
