“Reflect with me, if you will, on some of the things that have happened in our recent past that have had a profound impact on our world, on us personally,” Cardinal WIlton Gregory of Washington preached on January 1. “How does resuming the imposition of the death penalty ensure justice? Are we just becoming a more violent society? Hasn’t life itself been devalued and cheapened by our laws that authorize abortion, euthanasia and human biogenetic activities, where the end is said to justify the means?”