FFCC-1701: "Forgiveness: The Impossible Virtue" - Jeanne Bishop

First Friday Club of Chicago podcast

Jeanne Bishop, Attorney, Author, Social Justice Leader

On Friday, January 6, 2017, at Noon

At the Union League Club

The First Friday Club of Chicago

Welcomes

Attorney and Author Jeanne Bishop

Who will address the topic

“Forgiveness: The impossible virtue”

Many people in Chicago remember the horrible events of an unspeakable crime that took place in the northern suburbs 26 years ago. Newspaper and television coverage was extensive and emotionally exhausting. The story is familiar but the names of the people involved appear to have been forgotten.

Our speaker, Jeanne Bishop and her family, seemed to be living the American Dream. She and her siblings were born and raised in a quiet, safe, well to do suburb. She attended Northwestern University and had a good job at a top Chicago law firm.

The world changed for them on a dark night in 1990, just before Easter. After a family dinner to celebrate the impending birth of her younger sister’s baby, tragedy struck. Jeanne received a phone call the next morning. Her sister Nancy, brother-in-law Richard, and the unborn baby were gone. Murdered in their own home, in the sleepy village of Winnetka. … How? … Why?

Did the family experience crushing sadness? Yes. Was there anger and bitterness? Maybe at first. Was there a Desire for Revenge??

Jeanne will share her long journey of Forgiveness. A journey that started when she told the police investigators that she didn't want to hate anybody. Along the way she spent time with the author of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean, lobbied Gov. George Ryan about the death penalty, and met others who challenged her to examine her faith and Christian beliefs.

Would you have the courage or compassion to go to the prison where your sister’s murderer was incarcerated? Could you tell him he was Forgiven? Is Forgiveness an impossible virtue?