Jeanne Bishop - Grace from the Rubble: Two Fathers Road to Reconciliation after the Oklahoma City Bombing

This is a beautiful story of the tragedies wrought by murder and the death penalty, and the opportunities for reconciliation in their aftermath. Moving and instructive.

Scott Turow, ATTORNEY; AUTHOR, PRESUMED INNOCENT AND THE LAST TRIAL

A moving portrait of two gardeners of mercy, men who brought gentle and radical love to yield from the most barren soil. Jeanne Bishop skillfully weaves her own heroic triumph over vengeance with Bud and Bills in iridescent prose that glows like a late-summer sunset across red Oklahoma prairie. Grace from the Rubble delivers a searing and much needed reminder that we can move past cycles of hatred if only we find the courage to choose, in spite of everything, to witness the living God in our least likely neighbors.

Sister Helen Prejean, AUTHOR, DEAD MAN WALKING

To me, this remarkable story is not an abstraction. I grew up with Jeanne Bishop in the Oklahoma City she evokes so beautifully in this book, and like her, I am forever marked by the 1995 bombing. I share with her, too, the hope that shines through every broken place she achingly describes in a love letter to both this city and the human spirit.

Clayton I. Bennett, CHAIRMAN, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

Some say that love is the most powerful force in the world. I would suggest its forgiveness. And the astonishing and beautifully told story of two fathers drawn together by unimaginable tragedy shows how the process of forgiveness happens step by grace-filled step.

James Martin, SJ, AUTHOR, JESUS: A PILGRIMAGE AND MY LIFE WITH THE SAINTS

In Grace from the Rubble, Jeanne Bishop reminds us that retribution is not the only solution we can offer those whose loved ones have been murdered. There is another waythe path of forgiveness and reconciliation. Its the path Jeanne pursued with her sisters killer, and its the path she wrote about in her first book, Change of Heart. This time Jeanne revisits her hometownOklahoma Cityto tell the unforgettable story of a meeting between Bud Welsh, whose daughter, Julie, was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, and Bill McVeigh, whose son, Timothy, detonated the truck bomb that killed Julie, killed one hundred sixty-seven other innocents, and wounded hundreds more. This meeting was an act of grace which transformed both men and helped lift them up and out from under the rubble of their lives after the bombing. And this bookalso an act of graceis bound to elevate and transform all who read it.

Steve Drizin and Laura Nirider, CODIRECTORS, CENTER ON WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

Jeanne Bishop has written such a moving book, about an unexpected friendship between two men, a relationship whose foundation is the capacity to forgive. Grace from the Rubble reminds us that sometimes we can find the best of who we are in the worst of times.

Alex Kotlowitz, BESTSELLING AUTHOR, THERE ARE NO CHILDREN HERE AND AN AMERICAN SUMMER

In Grace from the Rubble Jeanne Bishop provides us with a genuine testament that compassion and empathy are the most powerful and only weapons against hate.

Christian Picciolini, AUTHOR, BREAKING HATE: CONFRONTING THE NEW CULTURE OF EXTREMISM

Jeanne Bishops unflinching, strong voice is one we need to hear in our divided nation. She is no naive bleeding heart; rather she is in her third decade as a public defender brave enough to regularly walk into Chicago jails and meet alone with those convicted of violent crimes. She is a bold, gritty storyteller, and Bud and Bill are a compelling story. For those who seek more love in the world and a path beyond our divisions, Bishop shows the way.

Prof. Mark Osler, ROBERT AND MARION SHORT DISTINGUISHED CHAIR, UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

ZONDERVAN BOOKS

Grace from the Rubble

Copyright 2020 by Jeanne Bishop

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ISBN 978-0-310-35769-8 (audio)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bishop, Jeanne, author.

Title: Grace from the rubble : two fathers road to reconciliation after the Oklahoma City bombing / Jeanne Bishop.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2020. | Summary: Grace from the Rubble by Jeanne Bishop tells the riveting true story of how tragedy destined two men to become enemies - the father of a daughter killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and the father of her killer - and the astonishing journey that led them to forge an extraordinary friendshipProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019050070 (print) | LCCN 2019050071 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310357674 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780310357681 (ebook)

Epub Edition February 2020 9780310357681

Subjects: LCSH: ForgivenessReligious aspectsChristianity. | Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1995. | ViolenceReligious aspectsChristianity.

Classification: LCC BV4647.F55 B574 2020 (print) | LCC BV4647.F55 (ebook) | DDC 976.6/38053dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050070

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050071

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the literary agency of Daniel Literary Group, LLC, Brentwood, TN.

A Casady Hymn, quoted in , appears courtesy of Casady School. Music by H. P. Gersman, lyrics by E. Sloan. Special thanks to Father Tim Sean Youmans, Vicar of St. Edward the Confessor Chapel and Religious Life Department Chair, Casady School.

The words from the panel in the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum quoted in , are courtesy of the museum. Thank you to Helen Stiefmiller, Collections Manager.

Several quotes in appear with permission from the book displayed for Julie Marie Welch in the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum: Their Faith Has Touched Us: The Legacies of Three Young Oklahoma City Bombing Victims by Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda (Sheed and Ward, 1998). Thank you to Patricia Zline, Rights and Permissions Assistant, Rowman and Littlefield.

Quotes from the poems of Carol Hamilton, Braced Against the Wind from an anthology by the same name, and Face of War from Shots On (Finishing Line Press) are used with gracious permission of the author.

The quote from the official record of the Oklahoma City bombing in is used with permission of Oklahoma Today magazine. Thank you to Colleen McIntyre, Director of Operations.

Quotes of Jan Henry, Chris Fields, and Florence Rogers in are from the play In the Middle of the West by Steve Gilroy, with kind permission of the author.

Cover design: Studio Gearbox

Cover photos: Pics-xl / SasaStock / Shutterstock

Author photo: Scott Friesen

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

Printed in the United States of America

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For my father, M. Lee Bishop, and