Is it possible to grant Forgiveness on behalf of a Group?

Module 2, Week 2 of Leadership, Justice & Forgiveness (aka ORGL532).  The material for this may have been the most disturbing in terms of content – Holocaust literature is never a "fun" read.  Just a quick reminder, here are the books for this module:

Last week, I wrote about Elie Wiesel, despair, and recognizing real suffering all around us, as opposed to what we see on television.  This week, I read Simon Wiesenthal’s book.  Forgiveness is an intensely personal experience.  Wiesenthal was asked to forgive a dying Nazi soldier on behalf of the Jewish people.  From my own viewpoint, I don’t believe that Wiesenthal should have struggled with the question of whether or not to forgive the soldier.  As his fellow prisoners pointed out, Wiesenthal did not speak on behalf of the Jewish people.  Where, therefore, was his authority to grant absolution to a single soldier on behalf of all Jews, who were still being persecuted and murdered?  Although the Jewish people as a whole endured terrible suffering, each person suffered in their own way.  That suffering cannot simply be rolled up into a neat package and then forgiven as part of a blanket amnesty.  Or can it?

However, Bolek (the almost-priest) raises an interesting question.  When all the people that you have wronged are dead, to whom can you turn for forgiveness?  Although your repentance may be sincere, is there any real way to perform any acts of contrition?  Turning specifically to Wiesenthal’s situation, how can a single individual, regardless of whether or not he is recognized as an authority, grant forgiveness to another individual (or even a group) on behalf of a group?  Would the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian people be morally capable of granting the other side blanket absolution?  Would a single Native American tribal leader really be able to grant general forgiveness for the suffering of his own tribe, let alone all of the other tribes?

Wiesenthal’s book raises more questions than answers.  I will admit, I set aside the forty or so responses in the second half of the book, because I believe that we each have to reach our own conclusions – based on our own ethical, moral and spiritual baseline, colored by our experiences and worldview.  Rather than try to pose a single question this week, I’ll just open it up for the group to let the discussion develop in its own way – without trying to direct or guide it in a specific fashion … after all, there are plenty of questions above to choose from.


February 2, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Gonzaga

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