Forgiveness News
Dr. Enright to Speak at 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin
Dr. Robert Enright, founder of the International Forgiveness Institute, is one of the featured speakers at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) being held in Dublin, Ireland, from June 10-17.
A Eucharistic Congress is an international gathering of people which aims to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church, to help improve understanding and celebration of the liturgy, and to draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist. Read more about the IEC.
In his session at the IEC on June 14, Dr. Enright will share a pathway to forgiveness that can help reduce anger and sadness and increase happiness despite injustices suffered in the world. This is the second consecutive year that Dr. Enright has been invited to present at the IEC. Read a description of Dr. Enright’s presentation.
Together with Prof. Geraldine Smyth, OP, (Irish School of Ecumenics, Dublin) Dr. Enright also presented “Becoming Eucharist for One Another through Forgiving” on June 7th during the Theology Symposium held at the Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland. The Symposium, held the week prior to the Eucharistic Congress, features scholars from across the disciplines of theology (scripture, systematics, moral theology, liturgy, pastoral studies, missiology, and ecumenics). Read more about the Symposium.
Rwandan Bishop Calls for Forgiveness Regarding Tutsi Genocide
AllAfrica.com. Bishop Rukamba of the Butare Catholic Diocese on May 20 encouraged people to forgive as they came together to commemorate the 1994 genocide against Tutsi victims.
“Forgiving is to let go of the grudge….forgiving makes our hearts relax and eases the pain we feel,” he said.
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days, more than 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate. Estimates of the death toll have ranged between 500,000 and 1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country’s total population. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of 1959-62 and overthrown the Tutsi monarchy.
Read more about the recent calls for forgiveness in Rwanda.
Victim Forgives War Criminal, Charles Taylor
Washington Post. In April, the Hague convicted former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, of war crimes. Samuel Konkofa Koroma, who was directly impacted by a 10-year war in Sierra Leone fueled by Taylor, tells his story of suffering, his rescue from certain death by a former student, and his ultimate decision to forgive.
Finding forgiveness after Charles Taylor
By Samuel Konkofa Koroma,
Samuel Konkofa Koroma has led peace-building projects in Africa for the global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps.
Last month a court in The Hague found former Liberian president Charles Taylor guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in fueling a 10-year, bloody conflict in Sierra Leone. The verdict capped a trial that itself had dragged on for years and had been punctuated by moments of sensationalism, such as Wikileaks revelations and the testimonies of supermodel Naomi Campbell and actress Mia Farrow.
With all of this spectacle, it can be easy to forget what the trial was really about: thousands of people like me, and the forgiveness that makes life bearable.
I’m from Sierra Leone, the country whose conflict Taylor was convicted of helping to finance. My life has taken me to Europe and to Uganda, but I’ve never forgotten my home: an impoverished, remote village.
Why Older People Are More Apt to Forgive
Mental Health News Organization – People become happier as they get older, according to recent research. Happiness significantly rises for the over 50-crowd, and while physical health may decrease as people get older, mental well-being increases, something researchers attribute to the lowered personal and professional expectations older people place on themselves.
Something else that comes with old age: an increased capacity to forgive others. It’s easier for older adults to forgive than it is for younger adults.
A recent study set out to examine the reason behind this positive relationship between age and forgiveness. Researchers hypothesized that the two personality traits of agreeableness and neuroticism (the degree of negativity in a person’s response to life situations) explain age differences in tendencies to forgive.
The study looked at individuals who ranged in age from 19-84 years and found that older adults showed higher levels of agreeableness and lower levels of neuroticism than younger adults. How does this relate to forgiveness? More agreeable people are more forgiving than less agreeable ones, and more neurotic individuals are less forgiving than less neurotic ones. Consequently, older people are more apt to forgive. Read the full story.
Episcopal Leaders Follow Amish Lead in Forgiving
ABCNews.com – The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has made a generous offer of forgiveness toward and the payment of the funeral service for a homeless man who killed himself after fatally shooting a priest and the church secretary last week. The community based its gesture of forgiveness and generosity on what the Amish did when a man attacked and killed school girls in Pennsylvania in 2006. Full report here.
