Patrick Clancy’s Most Painful Revelation Yet

For an innocent man whose ex-wife killed their children, Patrick Clancy gets an inordinate amount of scrutiny. From the nuts who claim he’s the actual killer to those who think he moved on too quickly after divorce, he’s found himself under the microscope of public opinion almost as much as Lindsay. Now, though, he finds himself facing criticism not for anything negative he’s done, but because he chose to forgive Lindsay for killing Cora, Dawson, and Callan. 

In an interview with Ross Douthat on “60 Minutes,” Patrick told Douthat, “And I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn’t get there, I would be eaten up inside, forever.” More shocking, though, was the revelation that Lindsay herself never asked to be forgiven. There are a variety of opinions on this, with some saying he made the right choice, some pointing out he has an ongoing civil case against her health providers and must guard what he says because of that, and others referring to him as a sniveling wimp. The reality is that his forgiveness isn’t a sign of weakness, but instead a sign of strength. 

There are biblical reasons for Patrick to forgive his ex-wife. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus tells Peter, when Peter asks how many times he must forgive a brother or sister who has sinned against him, “I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” To illustrate this point, he tells the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. In the parable, a servant owes the king a large debt, one he cannot repay, and begs the king for mercy. The king releases the servant from his debt, but when the servant faces a similar situation, he does not offer the same treatment. This enrages the king, who reinstitutes the servant’s debt and has him thrown in prison. The parable closes with, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Granted, Lindsay is not Patrick’s sister, but there is still the command to forgive. As Patrick grew up in a large Catholic family, such teachings were part of his upbringing, as were ones from Ephesians that command believers to avoid unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage, and anger. The fourth chapter of the book concludes with “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” 

Beyond the biblical reasons for forgiveness are the practical ones. As Patrick himself said, he didn’t want this to weigh on him for the rest of his existence. Nursing a grudge would do just that, preventing him from finding the healing he so needs. It doesn’t remove the grief or the loss, and it doesn’t absolve Lindsay of responsibility. Instead, it removes a weight from Patrick’s soul, allowing him to live a life driven by love. 

Nor will anger allow him to heal. Absent forgiveness, he will spend the rest of his days stewing over what happened rather than grieving and moving on, which is what he’s been trying to do since the tragic murders. Initially, the public was on his side, for example when he ran the Boston Marathon in 2024. He did so in memory of his children and raised $75,000 for Boston Hospital, where son Callan spent his last four days on earth. During the trial, some used the marathon run as proof that he was either guilty or had moved on too quickly. 

No one knows what’s going on in Patrick Clancy’s head except for Patrick. No one knows what timelines he should adhere to other than Patrick. Given his behavior prior to the murders, and everything that has come out since, he was a loving and devoted man who worked as hard as he could to help and support his ex-wife. He hired a nanny and worked from home so he’d be present. He assisted her when she was trying to get the mental health care she needed after Callan’s birth. It isn’t surprising that such a man would want to find new paths and people to share his love with. 

As Sun Tzu wrote, “Anger may in time change to gladness … But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.” Patrick’s kingdom, the one he built with Lindsay, is never returning, nor will he set his eyes upon the children who were ripped away from him. By forgiving, though, he makes way for gladness. He makes himself ready to build another life and build a new kingdom. It’s a lesson for all of us, especially those of us nursing grudges over much smaller infractions. Forgiveness is only partly for the forgiven. Its larger role is in freeing the forgiver from the shackles of rage.

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Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas. He produces the Cookin’ Up a Story podcast, which you can listen to here. You can also follow him on X: @rcromwell4.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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