The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies

Father James Billinger, Kristi Smith, Sue Norton, and Therese Bangert, SCL spoke at a Jan. 26 discussion hosted by the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University called “Reconciliation and the Death Penalty: What is the Way Forward?” Approximately 80 people attended the panel discussion, which explored the history of the death penalty in Kansas, the current legislative initiative to repeal it, and the Catholic Church’s stance on capital punishment. Norton and Smith, both members of the global organization Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, offered their perspectives as individuals who have lost family members to murder, yet firmly oppose the death penalty.

Panelists Father James Billinger, Kristi Smith and Therese Bangert, SCL

Panelist Sue Norton addressing the audience

While the arguments both for and against the death penalty are numerous and complex, there is something about the personal testimony provided by Sue and Kristi that renders much of that logic-chopping superfluous. These are two ordinary women, placed by cruel fate in extraordinary situations, and subsequently discovering within themselves personal resources to respond to those situations in truly remarkable ways. Guided by faith, Sue and Kristi ultimately found that their own healing could not progress unless they stood before the men whose violent actions had shattered their lives–not to curse them or rage at them or blame them, but to forgive them. They did not forsee how this decision would shape the susequent course of their lives, they only knew it was something they needed to do. The fact that both of the men they confronted were able to hear their words, and express genuine remorse, paved the way for what eventually became an experience of reconciliation for both women with the perpetrators.

It is perhaps this last point that struck me with the greatest impact as I listened to their remarks. Many opponents of the death penalty focus–quite rightly, I believe–on concerns about the possibility of erroneous conviction, about the injustices inherent in our judicial system, about the oxymoron entailed by killing to show that killing is wrong. But to the ears of those who argue in favor of the death penalty, these claims too often sound like taking the side of the convicted murderer. What of the victims’ families? they ask. What of the victims themselves? Do they not deserve more consideration than those who committed such heinous crimes?

In the stories told by Sue and Kristi, however, I heard something that I had not considered before–something that raises the discourse about the death penalty far above the false opposition between victim and perpetrator. Kristi Smith said it explicitly (I paraphrase): “It took me over 13 years before I was ready to talk to my father’s murderer. If the state of Kansas had put him to death, I never would have had the chance to forgive him in person. I never would have become reconciled with him, and the nightmares I had up until then might never have stopped.”

Much, much more was said Tuesday night that I found both moving and profound. But I wanted to highlight this one point in particular, because of the way it helped me to see the entire question in a new way. Something is lost when we put a murderer to death, something more than a life, and that is what may in the end be the best possible chance at healing for those among the living most affected by what happened.

Whether you attended or not, your thoughts and reflections are most welcome. Please post your comments and let us know what you think. (Please be patient. As this is a moderated forum, comments may take a few days to appear.)