Bishop, Author & Public Defender, Wins Christopher Award

Winnetka, Ill.-based author and public defender Jeanne Bishop has won a Christopher Award for her book Grace From the Rubble: Two Fathers’ Road to Reconciliation After the Oklahoma City Bombing (Zondervan). It is one of 12 books for adults and young people by 17 authors and illustrators honored as the Awards mark their 72nd year. The authors join creators of 10 winning TV/cable and feature films.

Mercy and forgiveness lie at the heart of Bishop’s book which explores the unlikely friendship between two fathers: Bud Welch, whose daughter Julie was killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and Bill McVeigh, whose son Timothy perpetrated the terrorist act.

The #ChristopherAwards were created in 1949 to celebrate authors, illustrators, writers, producers and directors whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit,” and reflects The Christophers' motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,” said Tony Rossi, director of communications.

The deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma City bombing was one in a long line of violent attacks which have left communities across the nation searching for healing and hope. With the message of the power of love to conquer evil, the book tells the intertwining stories of four captivating individuals: Julie Welch, a young professional full of promise and Tim McVeigh, the troubled mind behind the horrific event; Bud Welch, a father whose only daughter (Julie) was murdered and Bill McVeigh, the father of her killer.

With searing details by first-hand witnesses, including the Governor of Oklahoma, masterful storyteller Bishop describes the suspenseful scenes leading up to that fateful day and the dramatic events after as one father buried his daughter and the other saw his only son arrested and tried for mass murder.

Bishop is a public defender, human rights advocate, writer, speaker, teacher and mom. Since the 1990 murders of her sister Nancy Bishop Langert, her husband and their unborn baby, she has advocated for forgiveness and reconciliation, violence prevention and reform of the criminal justice system to make it more merciful.

She is also the author of Change of Heart: Justice, Mercy, and Making Peace with My Sister’s Killer (Westminster John Knox Press 2015) as well as a contributor to academic books, law review articles and opinion pieces in newspapers, magazines and online publications. A speaker at international forums she has appeared in documentaries on the death penalty and two TEDx talks as well as on radio and television, including a CBS 48 Hours program, “Road to Redemption."

Bishop attended law school at Northwestern University and Yale and since her sister's murder has worked at the Office of the Cook County Public Defender in Chicago, where she is a felony trial attorney. She teaches trial advocacy at Northwestern and serves on the advisory board of its Center on Wrongful Convictions.

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.