Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese of Western
Massachusetts 138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111 37 Chestnut
Street, Springfield, MA 01103 617-482-5800 / www.diomass.org
413-737-4786 / www.diocesewma.org
Contact: Contact: Tracy J. Sukraw, Director of Communications
Vicki Ix, Director of Communications Episcopal Diocese of
Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts
617-482-4826, ext. 493 413-737-4786, ext. 124 [email protected]
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 23, 2015
Bishops of Episcopal Church in Massachusetts speak out against
death penalty
As the jury convenes this week in the sentencing phase of the
trial of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the
bishops of the Episcopal Churchs two Massachusetts dioceses today
issued the following statement against the death penalty:
As bishops of the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts, we join
with others in the Commonwealth and across the nation in offering
our continued prayers for all those affected by the traumatic
legacy of the Boston Marathon bombing, and for those administering
justice in the Tsarnaev trial.
We take this opportunity to affirm our churchs opposition to the
death penalty, a position which has been articulated by the
Episcopal Church since 1958, and reaffirmed repeatedly by
resolution of the wider church and by our two dioceses in
Massachusetts.
The wanton disregard for life displayed by the Marathon bombing
is repugnant and morally inexcusable. Evidence offered in the trial
has served only to deepen our awareness of the calculated
mercilessness of this act.
Moral reasoning, however, often requires us to transcend our
emotional and visceral responses. The churchs teaching insists that
institutionalized violence neither answers nor prevents other forms
of violence, and that execution is an unjustified violation of the
prohibition against taking a human life.
As the family of bombing victim Martin Richard has movingly
asserted, justice will be fully served by a life sentence without
parole.
The laws of Massachusetts have rejected state-sponsored
execution. We affirm that position and reaffirm our opposition to
the death penalty in this and every case.
The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of
Massachusetts The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, Bishop, Episcopal
Diocese of Western Massachusetts The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris,
Bishop Suffragan, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts
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