Catholics on left and right find common ground opposing death penalty

The Reporter is seen as somewhat liberal in theology and politics. The Register, a competing biweekly with a confusingly similar name, is popular with more theologically traditional Roman Catholics, who often fall to the right politically.

But last year, seeing the amount of attention that The Register was giving to arguments opposing the death penalty, Mr. Coday came up with an idea: Maybe the two newspapers could collaborate on an editorial calling on Catholics to oppose the death penalty.

“What struck me the most was Oklahoma Archbishop Paul Coakley came out strongly against it,” Mr. Coday said. “And his comments were covered by The National Catholic Register.”