Forgiveness at Mother Emanuel

From First Things-

I’ve got something to say.” 

That is what a black minister heard God say to him moments before the minister unexpectedly spoke to Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white supremacist who had murdered the pastor's wife two days prior. At the conclusion of a midweek Bible study, Roof had opened fire as those gathered in the basement of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, bowed their heads in prayer. Nine were killed. 

The murders happened on June 17, 2015, and shocked the nation.  But what happened on June 19 may have been even more shocking. At a court hearing, with Roof appearing via closed circuit television feed from jail, the judge asked the bereaved families if they had anything to say to the accused. That minister would be among a string of those who looked at Roof and uttered the unfathomable “F” word: forgive.  

Those decisions to publicly forgive may have set Charleston, South Carolina, on a different path than places like Ferguson, Missouri, or Baltimore, Maryland, where racial tensions led to angry protests and riots in 2014 and 2015. That does not mean nothing changed. Within a month of the shooting, the Confederate battle flag—a symbol Roof had adored—was removed from the state capitol grounds. Walmart and Amazon stopped selling items bearing the flag. Thousands marched in a peaceful display of solidarity.

More here-

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/06/forgiveness-at-mother-emanuel

How Eastern Orthodox's ‘Forgiveness Sunday’ could save us from our Facebook feeds

From American Magazine-

As we enter deeper into Lent and continue to abstain from certain foods and habits, even those who have given up constantly checking Facebook and Twitter cannot retreat entirely from our divided, toxic political environment.

Partly because of my work in community and government relations for a Jesuit university, and partly the responsibility of simply being a citizen I will continue to take in news. This means I will inevitably be exposed to the usual mix of “fake news,” political grandstanding and negative partisanship—what the Stanford political scientists Shanto Iyengar and Masha Krupenkin call “a primal sense of ‘us against them.’”

Can our preparations for Easter help us cope with this reality? Can they do so not only now, but throughout the year?

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition in which I worship, the season of Lent begins with a “Forgiveness Vespers.” At the end of the service, each member of the community proceeds to the front of the church to exchange with the priest and fellow parishioners—the whole church—a plea of repentance.

More here-

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/03/15/how-eastern-orthodoxs-forgiveness-sunday-could-save-us-our-facebook-feeds

Forgiving the Unforgivable?

From Plough-

“Should we pardon them?”

That was the question posed by the French philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch in a 1971 essay of that title about Nazi war crimes.1 Jankélévitch passionately opposed a statute of limitations for these atrocities.2 He argued that crimes against humanity – those committed in Auschwitz, for example – are dehumanizing in the most basic sense: they attack the very essence of what it is to be human. Crimes like these, he wrote, cannot be covered by reconciliation:

It was the very being of humanity, esse, that racial genocide attempted to annihilate in the suffering flesh of these millions of martyrs. ... When an act denies the essence of a human being as a human being, the statutory limitations that urge absolution in the name of morality actually themselves contradict morality.3

Forgiveness, according to Jankélévitch, died in the concentration camps. (His essay had a powerful effect: as a result of it, in France there was no statute of limitations for Nazi collaborators under the Vichy regime.)

More here-

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/reconciliation/forgiving-the-unforgivable

Forgiveness: Muslims Moved as Coptic Christians Do the Unimaginable

From Christianity Today-

Twelve seconds of silence is an awkward eternity on television. Amr Adeeb, perhaps the most prominent talk show host in Egypt, leaned forward as he searched for a response.

“The Copts of Egypt … are made of … steel!” he finally uttered.

Moments earlier, Adeeb was watching a colleague in a simple home in Alexandria speak with the widow of Naseem Faheem, the guard at St. Mark’s Cathedral in the seaside Mediterranean city.

On Palm Sunday, the guard had redirected a suicide bomber through the perimeter metal detector, where the terrorist detonated. Likely the first to die in the blast, Faheem saved the lives of dozens inside the church.

“I’m not angry at the one who did this,” said his wife, children by her side. “I’m telling him, ‘May God forgive you, and we also forgive you. Believe me, we forgive you.’

More here-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/april-web-only/forgiveness-muslims-moved-coptic-christians-egypt-isis.html

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

From The Wall Street Journal-

To forgive, or not to forgive? It is a question that we ask ourselves more, and that becomes more salient, as years pass.

As we grow older, it is “very, very common to review your life,” says Berit Ingersoll-Dayton, professor and director of the joint doctoral program in social work and social science at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. It’s a process that inevitably will bring up “things that we feel good about—and that we don’t.”

In the absence of forgiveness, an offense that was committed against us, or some pain that we caused others, can replay in our minds, causing continuing anger or remorse that is often a recipe for bitterness and bad health. A wealth of research has linked the isolation and loneliness that can result to increased health problems and higher mortality.

More here-

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-healing-power-of-forgiveness-1458525864

Charleston Church Shooter Dylann Roof 'Caught Us With Our Eyes Closed'

Moving interview from NBC- (video)

In a matter of seconds, a moment of quiet prayer turned into a massacre.

"We were just about to say the prayer to be released," said Felicia Sanders, one of three people who survived when a gunman opened fire during Bible study at her Charleston, South Carolina, church on June 17.

"He caught us with our eyes closed. I never told nobody this."

Sanders and another survivor, Polly Sheppard, spoke to NBC News' Lester Holt in an exclusive interview Wednesday. They said they want those killed in the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church to be remembered as heroes, not as victims.


More here-

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/charleston-church-survivors-shooter-caught-us-our-eyes-closed-n424331

Pope Francis begs forgiveness of sex abuse victims

From The LA Times-

Pope Francis met for the first time with victims of clerical sexual abuse on Monday and pledged that bishops who covered up such abuse of minors would be held accountable.

Likening the abuse to a “sacrilegious cult” that drove its victims to drug addiction and suicide, Francis told six victims that the church should “weep” and “make reparation” for their suffering.

“Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you, and I humbly ask forgiveness,” he said during a homily at a Mass that the victims attended at his Vatican residence.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-pope-francis-meets-sex-abuse-victims-20140707-story.html

Author preaches forgiveness tips at Charlotte church

From North Carolina-

Do yourself a favor: Practice forgiveness.

That was the prescription Sunday from Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist and best-selling author who addressed a packed house at Charlotte’s Christ Episcopal Church. Those who don’t forgive, he said, only hurt themselves by carrying around poisonous anger, resentment and hate.

And that goes for America’s polarized political system, too, said the author of “Dare to Forgive: The Power of Letting Go and Moving on,” who has appeared on “60 Minutes,” “20/20,” and other national TV shows.

If he could get President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and America’s other political leaders together in a room? “I’d say, ‘Shut up and listen.’ ”
Read more here:

 http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/27/3817011/author-preaches-forgiveness-tips.html#storylink=cpy

Ellicott City church shooter forgiven by Episcopal leaders

From Baltimore-

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is offering forgiveness and a funeral service for a homeless man who killed himself after fatally shooting a priest and church secretary last week.

Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton and an academic expert on forgiveness likened the diocese's attitude to that of an Amish community in Lancaster County, Pa., that forgave the man who fatally shot five school girls there in 2006.


"That is a painful, hard process," Sutton said after last Thursday's shooting. "But we learned something a few years ago, made manifest by the Amish community, when a gunman came into that school: Eventually, that community went to the family of that murderer and extended forgiveness."
Church officials said Wednesday that the family of Douglas Franklin Jones hasn't decided whether to accept offers from several parishes to hold a Christian burial service for the man police have deemed responsible for the bloodshed at St. Peter's Episcopal Church.

Howard County police say a small-caliber handgun registered to Jones and found near his body was probably the same weapon used to kill the Rev. Mary-Marguerite Kohn and administrative assistant Brenda Brewington.

More here-

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/bs-md-ho-church-shooting-forgiveness-20120509,0,803544.story

Episcopal leaders forgive Maryland church shooter

From Maryland-

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is offering forgiveness and a funeral service for a homeless man who killed himself after fatally shooting a priest and church secretary last week.

Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton and an academic expert on forgiveness likened the diocese's attitude to that of an Amish community in Lancaster County, Pa., that forgave the man who fatally shot five school girls there in 2006.

"That is a painful, hard process," Sutton told The Associated Press after last Thursday's shooting. "But we learned something a few years ago, made manifest by the Amish community, when a gunman came into that school: Eventually, that community went to the family of that murderer and extended forgiveness."

Church officials said Wednesday that the family of Douglas Franklin Jones hasn't decided whether to accept offers from several parishes to hold a Christian burial service for the man police have deemed responsible for the bloodshed at St. Peter's Episcopal Church.

Howard County police say a small-caliber handgun registered to Jones and found near his body was probably the same weapon used to kill the Rev. Mary-Marguerite Kohn and administrative assistant Brenda Brewington.

More here-

http://www.wtop.com/64/2859164/Episcopal-leaders-forgive-Maryland-church-shooter

Episcopal leaders offer forgiveness, burial for Maryland shooter of priest and church worker

From The Washington Post-


The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is offering forgiveness and a funeral service for a homeless man who killed himself after fatally shooting a priest and church secretary last week.

Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton and an academic expert on forgiveness likened the diocese’s attitude to that of an Amish community in Lancaster County, Pa., that forgave the man who fatally shot five school girls there in 2006.


“That is a painful, hard process,” Sutton told The Associated Press after last Thursday’s shooting. “But we learned something a few years ago, made manifest by the Amish community, when a gunman came into that school: Eventually, that community went to the family of that murderer and extended forgiveness.”

Church officials said Wednesday that the family of Douglas Franklin Jones hasn’t decided whether to accept offers from several parishes to hold a Christian burial service for the man police have deemed responsible for the bloodshed at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/episcopal-leaders-offer-forgiveness-burial-for-maryland-shooter-of-priest-and-church-worker/2012/05/09/gIQA18GrDU_story.html

After fatal crash, nuns focus on forgiveness, not punishment

From The Washington Post-

Sister Charlotte Lange spent months in the hospital after a drunk driver slammed into her car. Her brain was damaged. Her memory and hearing have faded. Her once-curly hair turned straight.

But the 71-year-old nun, who spends about 32 hours a week soothing patients at St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, speaks of what she gained that August day in 2010. Now, she said, she brings encouragement learned during her recovery to her work.

“I think I even might be a nicer person,” said Lange, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia, whose home base is in Bristow. “Not that I want to go through it again . . . but it happened. I think I’m all the better for it.”

On Friday, Carlos A. Martinelly-Montano, 24, was sentenced in Prince William County court to 20 years in prison for causing the crash that also killed Sister Denise Mosier, 66, and badly injured Sister Connie Ruth Lupton, 77.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/drunk-driver-gets-20-years-for-va-crash-that-led-to-2-nuns-deaths/2012/01/31/gIQAEtf9nQ_story.html

The Amish forgave the man who killed five of their children, but the story's not over

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

Five years ago, Charles Carl Roberts IV entered an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pa., and shot 10 girls -- mortally wounding five -- before killing himself. This quiet, rural community in Lancaster County suddenly became a place of unprecedented contrasts -- violence amidst peaceful people, hordes of satellite trucks in a place that favors simplicity.

Most striking, in a world of deep division and blame-mongering, was the nearly immediate forgiveness the Amish community expressed to the Roberts family. This was not forgiveness offered in a prepared statement, delivered by lawyers or news crews, but forgiveness offered in person, from one human being to another.

What the Amish consider to be "standard Christian forgiveness" can teach all of us -- in our own personal and political conflicts -- that forgiveness is a way of life learned and lived in community.

Over the past five years, the survivors of the Nickel Mines tragedy have had to wrestle with the impact that Oct. 2, 2006, has had on their lives and their understanding of the world. Four of the five wounded girls have physically recovered; the fifth suffers from permanent disabilities due to brain trauma. The entire community continues to wrestle with the emotional and mental terror of the day.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11275/1178823-109.stm#ixzz1ZcaSDeJq

Thoughts on Casey Anthony's acquittal

From ENS-

Casey Anthony is not guilty. A jury of her peers has decided she is not to be held responsible and accountable for the death of her daughter. I do not know if this is a just verdict. I have not followed the case closely, in part because of my distrust that the media can report on this or most anything else justly. I am left to trust that the jurors -- who were actually there in the courtroom -- have done the best they could, weighing evidence and receiving impressions from the various witnesses and Ms. Anthony herself.

I can hardly imagine what it must be like to serve on a jury which is charged with the authority of pronouncing a verdict which may include execution. I do know that it is very easy for those not charged with such responsibility to imagine they would, without second thoughts, give such a verdict.

My hope is that Casey Anthony be saved. Justice is certainly important, but isn't salvation more important? It is not unreasonable to conclude that she is a young woman with many character defects (undoubtedly too tame a term): dysfunction produces dysfunction. Thrown yet more into the media frenzy with her acquittal she may be destroyed both from within and without.

If this happens -- and I fear it may -- her "execution" will only be a longer, more terrible ordeal; not state sanctioned and performed, but self-inflicted and society-driven. For some, prison is the place where they finally surrender to God. It appears this will not be the soil for Ms. Anthony's salvation. I pray God she will find it in her "freedom."

More here-


http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_129013_ENG_HTM.htm

Faith & Values: Could you forgive Anthony Weiner?

From Richmond-

Could you forgive Anthony Weiner?

Or Arnold Schwarzenegger? Or Jim Tressel? Or Tiger Woods? Or any of a score of figures whose moral lapses have become painfully public?

If recovery of public status is a measure of forgiveness, then Eliot Spitzer has certainly been forgiven. The former New York governor is now a commentator on CNN.

What, then, is forgiveness? Clearly something has changed after scandal broke. Spitzer is no longer described as "disgraced" or even as the "former governor." Nor are there apparent hesitations about his new media presence. Yet his dalliances with call girls were more than enough to cause him to leave office.

When this aspect of his private life became known, he was morally weakened and forced to resign. Has he now been forgiven? How? Why? Is there something we can learn about forgiveness from his moral lapse and from the lapses of other public figures?

More here-

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/lifestyles/2011/jul/02/tdmet01-faith-amp-values-could-you-forgive-anthony-ar-1147131/

Defeat evil with goodness, husband says

From Binghamton NY-

A grieving husband has an answer for those struggling to come to terms with Friday's massacre. "When people do things like this, we have to defeat them," David Marsland said. "The best way to defeat this man is to go out into the world and just be the most amazing person you can be." That's what Marsland said his wife, Hong Xiu Mao, was: Amazing. Hong Xiu Mao, 35, a native of China, died instantly Friday from a bullet wound to her chest, Marsland was told by Binghamton police. That morning, a gunman barricaded the back door of the American Civic Association building in Binghamton with a borrowed car, entered the front door, drew two semi-automatic handguns and killed 13 people before turning one of the guns on himself. Now the victims' families are traveling from far-flung countries to say goodbye. In addition to grieving, Marsland said Monday he is coping with suddenly being in the spotlight. Over the past four days, Marsland has chatted with a Chinese diplomat in his living room in Greene. He's also fielded telephone calls from newspapers and networks around the world seeking interviews. What's amazing to him is the outpouring of support from the local community and from others around the world. Funeral services for Hong Xiu Mao are at 11 a.m. Thursday at Zion Episcopal Church in Greene. Calling hours are 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090407/NEWS01/904070430/1116