Writer of book cited by Quinn ‘overwhelmed’

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As Gov. Quinn mulled repealing the death penalty in Illinois, he said he drew inspiration from a book about the life of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

The co-writer of The Gift of Peace grew emotional when told of its impact on the governor’s landmark decision.

The Rev. Alphonse Spilly, a 12-year assistant of the popular cardinal, hadn’t heard about the governor’s mention of Bernardin until he was told by the Chicago Sun-Times in a phone message.

“I was just overwhelmed,” the 71-year-old Spilly said, his voice cracking. “I still am. Cardinal Bernardin is still touching people’s lives in such a powerful way.”

Along with the Bible, Quinn said reading the book, which chronicles the cardinal’s terminal cancer diagnosis and was published after his 1996 death, guided his decision.

“It was very helpful in reflecting on this issue,” Quinn said in his public remarks following the bill signing on Wednesday. “Cardinal Bernardin felt, as I do, that there are other means to punishing violent, evil people who commit heinous crimes, other than the state terminating their life.”

He added the possibility of life in prison without hope of release constitutes a necessary “never-ending” punishment for criminals.

Though the book, written by Spilly and Bernardin, does not specifically mention the death penalty, it detailed Bernardin’s personal struggles with a false accusation and his cancer diagnosis, which ultimately was a death sentence.

“When he [Bernardin] found out his cancer was terminal, one of the things he did was visit someone at State-ville [Correctional Center] who was on Death Row,” said Spilly, a Whiting, Ind., resident. “He said, ‘You know, we’re both going to die soon.’ ”

Bernardin was also no stranger to the fallout of false accusations. When Steven Cook charged him with molestation in the mid-1990s, the consequences left a deep impression on Bernardin even after Cook recanted.

“He faced a false accusation that was very, very embarrassing,” Spilly said. “So often there have been cases of someone being wrongfully accused, and you can’t get the person back once you’ve executed them.”

Though the Catholic Church has at times supported the death penalty for those who commit heinous crimes, modern prison systems and the late Pope John Paul II’s advocacy against it narrowed that definition. Spilly said today the death penalty is “almost never justified.”

Spilly, who is the chaplain and a professor at Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, said last week a social justice group at the college agreed to have the college president write a letter to Quinn in support of the repeal.

Like Quinn, Spilly considered what Bernardin would do.

“I thought to myself, ‘If Cardinal Bernardin were here, he would have sent that letter a long time ago,’ ” he said.