Straining the Quality of Mercy

By Richard N. Ostling

Scots admit a clergy candidate who murdered his mother

As golf fans streamed by to attend the final day of the British Open at the famed old course two blocks away, 130 parishioners gathered last week for Sunday worship at the gray stone Hope Park church in St. Andrews, Scotland. Said Pastor William Henney as the service started: "We give a special welcome to Jim Nelson, who starts a probationary period with us. We wish him a happy time among us." Clergy Candidate Nelson, clad in black gown and clerical collar, showed barely a trace of nervousness as he began his duties by reading the Scripture lessons from Luke 12 and Acts 26.

All seemed routine, except for one elderly worshiper who whispered to her pew partner: "It should never have happened." She meant that soft-spoken James Nelson, 39, is one of the most prodigal of sons ever to be approved for the Christian ministry. On Oct. 30,1969, near Glasgow, Nelson got into a row with his mother over a girlfriend and, in a fit of rage, began bludgeoning her with a truncheon. When it broke, he went after her with a brick. Nelson dragged her body out to the garage, changed his bloody clothing, washed up and drove into the city, but later that night turned himself in.

The admission of Nelson as a Church of Scotland minister and candidate for full ordination has touched off a passionate and painful controversy throughout the nation. Over the past several months, hundreds of letters have filled the columns of Scottish newspapers, debating whether God's forgiveness means that even someone who has committed such an abhorrent crime should be allowed to serve in the church. "The Bible says there is great rejoicing in heaven over the recovery of a lost sheep," wrote one correspondent, "but there is no suggestion that the sheep was promoted to shepherd." Perturbed Scots have also raised practical questions: Would lonely widows want Nelson paying a call after dark? How could he comfort the family of a murder victim or preach on motherhood? But Nelson has many staunch defenders, who have pointed out that the young Moses committed murder and that St. Paul approved the killing of Christians before his conversion. "Surely Christ is still Redeemer," argued another letter writer. "Can we not believe that Mr. Nelson may be truly reborn?"

The murderer's odyssey began in 1970, after he had been ruled sane and sentenced to a life term. An Edinburgh prison chaplain's sermon started Nelson pondering the self-centeredness of his life. Gradually he turned to God and began thinking about ways of serving him. Released on parole under lifelong probation in 1979, Nelson entered the divinity school at the University of St. Andrews. He was accepted as a student candidate by a national church committee in 1981, and won the routine approval of St. Andrews Presbytery, the supervisory body representing dozens of congregations in the St. Andrews area. All the while, a small group of church officials and sympathetic faculty members kept his past secret. Then last November, just after Nelson had married a fellow divinity-school student, the Glasgow Herald broke the story.

Pastor Henney remained willing to have Nelson perform his probationary year at Hope Park after graduation, but delegates from St. Andrews Presbytery first had to approve his continued training for licensing. Last April, confronted with objections from 14 of Scotland's 45 other presbyteries, and nettled by what it took to be a cover-up of Nelson's past, the presbytery rejected his candidacy, 43 to 42. Nelson then appealed to the highest authority of the Church of Scotland, the General Assembly, which convened in May. "I have repented of my crime, and I repent of it still," Nelson declared. "I firmly believe that the church is never brought into disrepute by seeking to be faithful to the Gospel which it preaches."

The General Assembly overturned the St.

Andrews decision, 622 to 425.* Reactions at Hope Park have been mild, on the surface at least. Only two members have quit, and another vows never to attend a service in which the ex-convict participates, but most have welcomed Nelson or are willing to accept the decisions of the national church and their senior pastor. Nelson, licensed as a probationary minister, is authorized to perform all clergy duties except administration of the sacraments. If he performs capably, his full ordination next year will be automatic, provided a congregation is willing to hire him as its pastor. Says Nelson:

"I'm not trying to make any point at all.

I'm just trying to respond to a call from God."

-- ByRichard N. Ostling. Reported by Arthur White/St. Andrews

* The same assembly approved a candidate convicted in 1980 of embezzling $155,000.

With reporting by Arthur White