by James Haupt

The Catholic Church considers the death penalty inadmissible because it is “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” language added to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 under Pope Francis.

The Church continues to call for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide, a position now drawing renewed attention in Tennessee after two failed executions this year prompted Catholic leaders to speak out.

“The Tennessee Catholic Conference, on behalf of the three bishops of Tennessee, have strongly been urging the state to move away from capital punishment, to replace it with life without parole,” said Rick Musacchio, executive director of the Tennessee Catholic Conference. “We’ve restated that call since the execution of Christa Pike — the attempted execution took place last week.”

Pike was convicted of killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995. Pike was 18 at the time and was sentenced to death.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, an organization that advocates against the death penalty, has been closely following Pike’s case.

“Christa Pike is 50 years old, and she committed a murder when she was 18 years old,” Murphy said. “She was sentenced to death. If she were tried today, that sentence is no longer eligible for teenagers. So if that happened today — that crime happened — she would not be sentenced to death.”

Pike was scheduled to be executed Sept. 30. The execution was halted after two doses of lethal-injection drugs failed to kill her, leaving her in critical condition. The incident came months after the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May.

Following Pike’s failed execution, Catholic bishops Mark Spalding of Nashville, David Talley of Memphis and Mark Beckman of Nashville joined Episcopal and Lutheran bishops in issuing a statement.

The bishops prayed for Slemmer and said seeking clemency for Pike does not diminish the suffering of Slemmer or her loved ones. They also restated the Church’s opposition to the death penalty and called on Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

“We’ve had an ongoing relationship with Governor Lee throughout his almost eight full years in office at this point,” Musacchio said. “He is a strong advocate of prison reform, of working with inmates who are incarcerated for their eventual release. And he has invited us to continue bringing our view on the death penalty to his attention.”

Catholics in Tennessee have also continued speaking out against capital punishment, including Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

“We believe in the love of God, in Christ, to change people and to redeem people,” Rector said. “And we believe in unconditional mercy. Right? Doesn’t mean there’s not accountability. There must be accountability. But do we need to take the life of someone? And the answer to that question is no.”

Rector and her organization support alternatives such as life imprisonment and investing resources in the prevention of violent crime.

Lee has called for an independent review of the failed execution, leaving Pike’s future uncertain. As of Tuesday afternoon, Pike had regained consciousness and remained in a hospital intensive care unit.