Dear Editor, Your news item about the death of US Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia (IC 18/02/2016) gave the impression that he was an exemplary Catholic. If Catholic values are to be understood as trying to live like the compassionate Jesus of the Gospels, it is difficult to see how the late judge stood out as filling the criteria.
For Scalia, the law and constitution always came first, justice second, and mercy didn’t even feature. He was a strong advocate of the death penalty and was instrumental in the execution of several prisoners on death row, some of whom were later proved innocent. This, along with his attempts to block their appeals, is well documented in Sr Helen Prejéan’s book, The Death of Innocents (2007, Vintage Publications).
My tardy response to the article is due to my reluctance to speak ill of the dead, but I am concerned at the misrepresentation of Catholic values.
Yours etc.,
Sr Eileen Clear,
Limerick city