Where Are the Bishops?

On March 18:
Bishops’ Official Commends Congressional Action on Terri Schiavo
(Gail Quinn, Executive Director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

And on March 21:
Bishops' Official Thanks Congress And The President For Giving Terri Schiavo A Chance To Live
(Richard Doerflinger, Deputy Director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

************
We know what representatives of the Pro-Life Committee have stated.
What have the Bishops said?
Anyone?

Also on March 21:
Catholic Bishops Launch Major Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, declared, “We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. We cannot defend life by taking life.”

“The Catholic campaign will work to change the debate and decisions on the use of the death penalty: building a constituency for life, not death; calling on our lawmakers to lead, not follow; to defend life, not take it away. . . . This cause is not new. Our bishops’ conference has opposed the death penalty for 25 years. But this campaign is new. It brings greater urgency and unity, increased energy and advocacy, and a renewed call to our people and to our leaders to end the use of the death penalty in our nation.”

Except in the case of Terri Schiavo, apparently.

Cardinal McCarrick emphasized the Church’s commitment to victims of violence and their families as a central part of the campaign.

Again, except for Terri Schiavo...

Cardinal McCarrick said the campaign is about “justice. . . . The death penalty in our land is deeply flawed.”

Justice? As in the "justice" in Florida?

"Deeply flawed"? Of course, this is only opinion, and not the teaching of the Church.

The Catholic magisterium in recent years has become increasingly vocal in opposing the practice of capital punishment. In coming to this prudential conclusion, the magisterium is not changing the doctrine of the Church. The doctrine remains what it has been: that the State, in principle, has the right to impose the death penalty on persons convicted of very serious crimes. (Source)

Cardinal McCarrick, once a supporter of the death penalty, concluded his statement by saying, “I’m not a young man. But as a pastor, teacher, and citizen, I hope I will see the day when the nation I love no longer relies on violence to confront violence.

The decision to inflict capital punishment by legitimate civil authority is not violence and it is disingenuous to persist in perpetuating this as a truth. Capital crimes deserve capital punishments.

Allowing the state-sanctioned murder of an innocent woman, Terri Schiavo, without so much as a word from the body of bishops, while at the same time, promoting this "initiative", is appalling.