Six of Scott and Janet Willis’s children died in an explosion caused by a truck driver involved in the licenses-for-bribes scheme that landed former Illinois Gov. George Ryan in jail in 2006.

The Baptist pastor and his wife say they’re willing to meet with Ryan and forgive him, but only if he’s willing to pay the price required to be eligible for forgiveness — authentic repentance.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass spoke with the Willises on Tuesday, in the context of the news that Ryan’s legal representatives have sent a clemency petition to President Bush seeking an early release from prison.

Here’s part of what the Christian couple told Kass regarding a possible meeting with Ryan:

“Scott said he and Janet prayed on it, and thought about it some more, and, finally, set down some requirement for their meeting,” Kass wrote.

“‘We wanted to talk to your readers and to Mr. Ryan about what forgiveness is about,’ Scott said. He told me of a book that has given them comfort, ‘Unpacking Forgiveness’ by Chris Brauns, which includes this definition: ‘Forgiveness is the commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated.’”

Continued Kass, “I asked them to explain. ‘It means that there are consequences for our actions,’ Scott said. ‘He’s paying for those actions. But if he’d truly like to be forgiven, then we’d have to sit down with him and go over the specific counts, like when he killed the investigation into the crash that took our children. And we’d have to see if there is true repentance. There can only be true repentance if he does admit he did all these things and that they were wrong.

“‘If he wouldn’t respond positively, it wouldn’t be maddening as it would be pitiable. I’m not going to get into saying, I forgive you, if he doesn’t want to admit it. If we meet, I will ask very specific questions. I would like to know he knows he’s done wrong. If he doesn’t take responsibility, then there is no reason to continue.’”

Wrote Kass, “Janet and Scott believe, from a lifetime of reading the Bible and practicing their Christian faith, that many of us have it all wrong when it comes to forgiveness. Someone does something wrong, they admit sorrow for some vague offense and we feel pressure to forgive them. It’s all wrapped up in a neat package. That’s too easy.

“‘It doesn’t work that way,’ Janet said. ‘Mistakes are mistakes. Children make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But if a person were truly repentant, then it’s not a mistake, it’s not an accident, it was deliberate. God doesn’t forgive us unless we repent. But how can we humans know? That’s the tricky part. You have to be willing to accept the consequences.’”

— Tom McFeely