A recent NY Times piece relates the work of two men of the cloth, one Protestant, one Catholic, who ministered to the likes of Hermann Goering and Rudolph Hess during the war crime trials at Nuremburg Prison in 1946. Both were later reviled for ministering to such evil, but both persevered in their work to save even those souls.
The Catholic, Rev. Richard O’Connor, died in his sleep in 1983. One of his students, Rev. Brian Jordan, recalled later that his mentor often had nightmares of the work he did – both at Nuremberg and in the concentration camps during the liberation beforehand – and among the lessons he passed along was this:
“Jordan, you may absolve them of their sins,” he said, “but don’t ever absolve them of their actions.”
The Catholic, Rev. Richard O’Connor, died in his sleep in 1983. One of his students, Rev. Brian Jordan, recalled later that his mentor often had nightmares of the work he did – both at Nuremberg and in the concentration camps during the liberation beforehand – and among the lessons he passed along was this:
“Jordan, you may absolve them of their sins,” he said, “but don’t ever absolve them of their actions.”
