Viewpoint The quality of mercy confronts a killer
By CAMILLE
DARIENZO
Life is what happens when
youre planning something else.
This simple wisdom from an Argus poster printed half a lifetime
ago validates itself daily in occurrences large and small. It was waiting for
the Sisters of Mercy to assemble in St. Louis for nine days in July 1999.
The 150 or so sisters attending the 7 oclock morning Mass
the opening day of our Third Institute Chapter had come with a packed agenda --
well-laid plans to elect a new leadership team, a process to help us ponder the
possibilities of our shared future, to intensify our commitment to our
direction statement and to strategize for creative ways to extend the ministry
of mercy into the next millennium.
Dominican Fr. Thomas Condon, the celebrant of that early morning
Mass, prayed for mercy for Robert Walls, a man to be executed in Missouri the
next week.
Robert Walls was not on our agenda.
The notion that God, too, might have an agenda, insinuated itself
in the homilists reflection on the days first scripture reading. It
told of Abraham and Sarah, people who, the priest observed, lived in
undeviatingly predictable times. They, nevertheless, kept their door open to
the unexpected, the absurdly unexpected announcement that set Sarah laughing in
secret: They together would have a child and progeny beyond counting.
How could the unexpected not crash through our predictable? How
could Sisters of Mercy confine themselves to business as programmed in the face
of a merciless decision to execute a repentant human being for a crime
committed 14 years earlier? How could we ignore the plight of this person when
we were gathered to discover ways to help the poor and marginalized, while
knowing that Catherine McAuley, our revered foundress, had a special concern
for people in prison?
You could write to the governor, the priest suggested
in response to a request for direction made after Mass. Sr. Karen Donahue of
Chicago drafted a letter asking Missouris governor, Mel Carnahan, to
extend clemency to Robert Walls. Copies were on the 50 tables in the Assembly
Hall the next morning. By noon it had garnered 410 signatures without
discussion or debate.
The letter, faxed to the governor and to the media, fell upon deaf
ears and a closed heart in the case of the governor and was embraced with open
arms and interest by the media. The governor denied our request on the basis of
its providing no new information. Radio, TV and newspaper reporters
spread the word of our petition and plumbed and published the rationale for our
opposition.
The eve of the execution found over a hundred Sisters of Mercy at
a vigil on the steps of the Municipal Court Building in St. Louis. Their
presence, organized by Sr. Eileen Hogan of Connecticut, more than quadrupled
the presence of the citys faithful opponents of capital punishment,
giving heart and hope to the events sponsors. The sisters final
public appeal to the governor was read by candlelight to a background of
prayers and songs. Local TV stations recorded and reported the largest
demonstration of its kind in St. Louis.
Meanwhile, in Potosi Prison, priest and penitent waited in a
non-contact cell on death row. Time dragged on. Then came the 10 oclock
news. The lead story brought into that place of isolation row upon row of
people holding candles and keeping vigil for Robert Walls.
The next day Fr. Condon spoke emotionally of the impact of our
unexpected presence in that maximum-security cell.
Bob was very touched. He also knew of your letter to the
governor with over 400 signatures. We had talked several times about the
meaning of his short life. At that moment, he understood.
The priest told him that his story had reached many people, and
even though his life would not be spared, others might stand a better chance
because of the sisters actions in his behalf.
In a letter to the Mercy community, Tom said, I want to
express my profound gratitude to all the Sisters of Mercy for your actions this
week in St. Louis in behalf of Robert Walls. You took his case to the governor,
to the media and to the streets, in your attempt to reverse his death sentence.
What you did was a wonderful example of what all religious strive to do: Put
your charism in practice. Your cry of mercy in the face of a terrible evil did
not go unheard.
I want you to know that you made a great difference in the
life of this good and decent man who did not deserve the fate the state of
Missouri handed down to him.
Robert Walls death happened while we were planning
something else. Although the issue never made it to the chapter floor,
the fate of this man and the issue of capital punishment were in the air we
breathed throughout our time together.
At the closing session, Sr. Theresa Kane of New York asked that
our engagement with this case be recorded with chapter proceedings.
It felt right. The God of Abraham and Sarah remains the God of
constancy and of the unexpected.
Sr. Camille DArienzo is president of the Brooklyn
Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy.
National Catholic Reporter, August 27,
1999
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