Nun Forgives Attacker Who Disabled Her; Pleads for Judge to Have Mercy in Sentencing

Terry Mattingly blogs at GetReligion on a profoundly moving story of forgiveness that appeared in The Baltimore Sun:

... Sister Muriel Curran faced the man who shoved her to the ground and ripped away her purse three years ago. She quoted Scripture. She thanked him for the guilty plea that spared her a trial. And she asked a Baltimore County judge not to send him to prison.

“There is possibility and hope — I believe in it, it’s what I’m about — in rehabilitation and a future,” the 78-year-old nun said yesterday, explaining that she has difficulty believing in a penal system that sometimes leaves criminals worse off than before they went to prison. “I’ve taught too many boys in my life not to believe that growth and change can take place.”

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“The Gospel,” she said. “You hear that cliche — ‘What would Jesus do?’ — but if you live it, you’ve got to believe it.” . . .

Reading from a card, Sister Curran quoted a letter in the Bible from the Prophet Jeremiah: “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope.” Turning to face Dodson, she said, “That is my hope for you, Charles. I would like to give that to you.”

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