Mr Jerrett has it a little bit wrong in today’s column.

There is an awful history of the Catholic Church supporting the death penalty, but things have been changing and Pope John Paul II’s Christmas call to end the death penalty has precedents.

The U.S. Catholic bishops issued a very strong statement against the death penalty in 1974 and have re-iterated this several times since then.

In fact, the efforts in the past few years to reinstate the death penalty were strongly condemned by the Catholic bishops of Iowa as well as leaders of other religious communities.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II, in an encyclical letter, stated that it is nearly impossible to justify the death penalty today.

But even before that, he has intervened by asking heads of states and even U.S. governors to commute death penalties.

Mr. Jerrett, I am glad you agree with this one aspect of the Catholic Church’s consistent ethic of life. But please be sure to get the facts correct.

John Donaghy

Campus Minister

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Student Center