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The Reentry Project. A Justice That Heals
 This
is a story of murder and forgiveness.On June 9, 1996, Mario Ramos graduated from high school. The next day,
he murdered Andrew Young. It was one of 90 homicides in Chicago that month
and, in many ways, it was nothing unusual - an 18-year-old gang member
shoots and kills a 19-year-old male on a street corner in broad daylight.
The events that followed were anything but typical.
The murderer was a parishioner at a nearby church; his victim lived in
the neighborhood. The parish priest and members of the community rallied
around the murderer and his family - not to defend what he had done,
but to defend his humanity. They also reached out to the victim's family,
determined to arrive at a type of justice that would heal all concerned.
Their actions changed everything. They brought together the families
of the murderer and his victim. They started the murderer on the road
to rehabilitation. Ultimately, they led to a rare - and controversial
- bond between the victim's mother and the young man who killed her
son.
This extraordinary story offers an approach to justice that moves beyond
confrontation - and attempts to restore harmony to lives left broken
by a terrible crime.
A Justice That Heals, which aired Sunday, 12/19, 2004,
at 3 p.m. ET, begins with Mario, in prison, recounting a dream
he had before the crime: blood on his hands, police, a murder. He knew
it was coming, he says, yet he did nothing to stop it.
Then, Mario and his victim's twin brother recount Andrew's murder. Andrew's
parents enter the story, then Mario's parents. And then, Father Bob Oldershaw,
a priest with the courage to truly "love the sinner" while "hating the
sin."
But it was the victim's mother who took the most remarkable step. After
months of struggling to help her family cope with this terrible tragedy,
Maureen Young decided that she needed to forgive Mario. She didn't feel
forgiving, she says, but she knew that she needed to forgive him for her
own sake, and for the sake of her family.
In Father Oldershaw's statement at Mario's trial, he said, "I am here
because of two families and two sons. The Ramos Family are members of
my parish. The Young Family are members of my community. Even as I grieve
the devastating loss of Andrew Young, I firmly believe that Mario Ramos'
life need not be lost, it can be saved, it is being saved...I can't
imagine anything worse than taking someone's life, but I still love Mario.
Faith asks more. That we believe that redemption is possible, that a person
can change and that there is a justice that heals."
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