Remarks to the Symposium “Responsibility, Rehabilitation and
Restoration: A Symposium on Crime, Punishment and the
Common Good in California”
The Most Rev. José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, California
August 3, 2012
My friends,
We have just heard a beautiful parable for us to reflect on in the context of your
program for this weekend.
The prodigal son is the story of every life. i In a way, this parable is a summary of the
entire Gospel.
We are all sinners who must rely on the mercy of God. We have all squandered the
beautiful inheritance that our Father has given us as his children. In justice, we are all
deserving of punishment for our sins. And yet our Father’s mercy is wide. He will
forgive our every trespass — so long as they are truly sorry and committed to changing
their lives.
This is the beautiful reality of God.
But men and women are not God. And for us, justice and mercy remain the hardest
qualities to balance when we are trying to deal with those who break our society’s laws.
Punishment should defend the public order and restore harmony in the social
relationships disrupted by the criminal act. But our punishments must also be
“medicinal.” Our punishments must contribute to the moral correction and education of
offenders and their “re-insertion” into society. ii
So as you begin your important work this weekend, let me offer you these reflections
from our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI:
“Justice and mercy … are two different realities only for the human person. … For us
‘just’ means ‘what is due to the other,’ while ‘merciful’ is what is given out of kindness.
One seems to exclude the other. Yet for God it is not like this. … [For him], there is no
just action that is not also an act of mercy and pardon. And at the same time, there is no
merciful action that is not perfectly just.
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“How far God’s logic is from our own! And how different is his way of acting from
ours! The Lord invites us to understand and observe the true spirit of the law to give it
total fulfillment in love for those in need. ‘Love … is the fulfilling of the law,’ St. Paul
wrote. Our justice will be all the more perfect the more motivated it is by love for God
and for our brethren.” iii
I ask God’s blessings on all your conversations and programs this weekend, my friends.
And I ask that our Our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Mercy, be with you as you strive
to build a society that reflects the justice and love of her Son and our Lord, Jesus
Christ. iv
i
Luke 15:11–32.
Catechism, 2266; Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 403.
iii
Address to Inmates of Rome’s Rebibbia District Prison (December 18, 2011).
iv
Luke 11:42.
ii