Here’s a public apology of a different sort: Marty Stroud, former assistant district attorney in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, wrote a letter recently to the editor of the Shreveport Times, in which he apologizes for convicting Glenn Ford of first-degree murder in 1984. Mr. Ford served thirty years in prison before being released last year, but has been unable to collect compensation for his wrongful conviction. Mr. Stroud hopes his public letter will assist Mr. Ford in obtaining the compensation he deserves under Louisiana law.
Mr. Stroud acknowledges in his letter that he was “arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic and very full of myself” as a new d.a. when he prosecuted Mr. Ford, and that he was more interested in winning than in justice.
He told a Washington Post reporter, “When I started writing the letter, it was part of a cleansing process for me, stuff that had bothered me for years that I couldn’t put my finger on. It came out in this letter. The only regret that I have is that I didn’t come to this position much earlier in life.”
Adding to the weight of Mr. Stroud’s regret is the fact that Glenn Ford was sentenced to death, and served his time on death row. Mr. Stroud has concluded that imposing the death penalty in any case is wrong: “We are simply incapable of devising a system that can fairly and impartially impose a sentence of death because we are all fallible human beings.”
The apology, in my humble opinion, is a model of a sincere apology from a truly regretful man. He ends his letter expressing the hope that “providence” will have more mercy on him than he showed Glenn Ford, recognizing that he is undeserving of it. According to the Bible, that’s just the place our hearts need to be for God to forgive us and grant us mercy.
A great man died this week, though few outside of Grand Rapids have ever heard of him. I never met Charlie Jones, but when I hear his name, I think, “forgiver.” Several years ago, after his brother Willie was brutally tortured and beaten to death by four teenagers, Charlie was able not only to forgive the four young men but also minister to their families. It was a stirring example of what it looks like to heed Jesus’ admonition to “turn the other cheek,” and Paul’s reminder to “forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Charlie and Willie were African-American, old enough to have experienced the Jim Crow South and the de facto segregation of Grand Rapids. Charlie told the Grand Rapids Press in 2000 that the brothers learned to respond to mistreatment by reminding each other, “They don’t know no better.” Charlie said the same of the white boys who killed his brother. That response – echoing Jesus’ response to his own murderers – has stayed with me ever since. I don’t always remember it, but when I do, it helps me forgive.
Thank you, Pastor Jones, for teaching me about forgiveness, and for modeling the love of Christ.
February 23, 2015 – 9:21 am
“Ring Those Bells” is a popular request at Christmas, but who wants to listen to church bells ringing day in and day out all through the year? Not Wolfgang Lassy. He lives near the New Cathedral in Linz, Austria, whose bells ring every quarter hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and he says he hasn’t been able to get a good night’s rest for years. He says he’s been trying for two years to get the church to stop ringing the bells during the night, but they have refused.
So now he has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Church in Linz.
Lassy, an architect, told an Austrian newspaper that he bought his “dream home” near the Cathedral in 2004. In 2010, he started to suffer fatigue, and thought it was burn-out, but a doctor diagnosed a sleep disorder, and the bells were the culprit. He wants the church to stop ringing the bells between 10 pm and 6 am, just as the cathedral in Vienna, Stephansdom, does. His lawyer, Piotr Pyka, said the local church representatives would not stop the bells without a holy or judicial order to do so. Lassy filed his lawsuit in December, and also sent a letter to the Pope on February 4.
A hearing on his lawsuit was to begin on February 6, but both sides are scheduled to meet tomorrow to have a discussion through “non-judicial means.”
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a lawsuit to get both sides to negotiate. Or perhaps the Holy Father will mediate?
February 17, 2015 – 11:30 am
I had the pleasure today of being interviewed by my friend and colleague Zena Zumeta about Christian peacemaking, for a “radio” program that will air next Tuesday evening, February 24, 2015, at 8 pm ET. This is “blog talk radio” so anyone with a computer and access to the internet can listen to it. And the recordings are available to be listened to later so there’s no urgency to catch it Tuesday evening. This is through an organization called Texas Conflict Coach where there are many other interviews on conflict resolution available as podcasts.
Although I know that one of the most effective teaching tools is storytelling, I have a tough time remembering stories about cases I’ve done. Knowing that this interview was coming up prompted me to review cases and recall some neat examples of reconciliation that I’ve been privileged to witness. Without revealing identities, I shared some of these stories during the interview. It reminded me anew of what God can do through the conflicts in our lives, if we are humble enough to let the Spirit work in our hearts.
Tonight, Peacemaker Ministries President and CEO Dale Pyne will do a live call-in program on biblical peacemaking, presenting a different, copmlementary perspective on this topic. It too can be listened to through the Texas Conflict Coach web-site any time after this evening.
February 6, 2015 – 1:47 pm
Alyce Conlon used to work for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship here in Grand Rapids. She was terminated, and tried to sue I-V for discrimination in Federal Court, but the District Court denied her claim, and this week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s dismissal.
Now maybe the parties can resolve their differences in private. I-V has a long history of incorporating biblical peacemaking principles into its contracts. I’d be surprised if there weren’t some type of conciliation clause in their employment contracts. I-V defended on different grounds, but now let’s hope the parties resolve this “within the church,” where it belongs.
