Restorative justice

March 4, 2010
New Beginnings through Community, Forgiveness, and Holy Ground

For the last couple of months I have had the privilege of spending half a day each week with Sun-Do, a Presbyterian Minister from Soul Korea who moved to Saskatoon with his wife and two sons to work on a Master of Theology at St. Andrew’s college.  St. Andrew’s first contacted me to see if I would take on a practicum placement in the Restorative Justice program.  With much excitement and anticipation I agreed to serve as the host placement for Sun-Do, and life has become richer ever since.  Sun-Do has shared his longing for a church that emanates the ministry of reconciliation and finds a good part of their identify in working for peace and justice.  I find this very humbling as I’m still trying to grasp what being a people of peace looks like in Canada compared to Korea.

Sun-Do and I have been working with the Chaplain at the Correctional Center here in the city, spending time with inmates on the secure range (23.5 hour lock down each day) each Monday morning.  Recently the chaplain paired us with someone who has been in secure for almost 5 years, known as the “midtown rapist.”  Now if you’re anything like me, walking into a situation like this never gets any less scary… it’s a good thing that much of the Biblical narrative has to do with not being afraid.  None the less, so many questions are racing through my mind (competing for attention and answers) as we enter the cell for our first designated time together: what will we talk about?; how can I identify with someone who hasn’t seen the sun for almost 5 years when I have house with many windows capturing the beauty of the sun, a beautiful wife and an eight-month old daughter?; is my faith really substantial enough to offer true support, encouragement, friendship, empathy?; Can I see beyond what he did, beyond his label?; Can I have the eyes of Christ to see clearly?

This is where things get interesting: the raging questions melted like wax as the ground became holier during our time together.  The man we came to visit was ministering to Sun-Do and I by sharing times of repentance and confession, wrestling through many of his childhood memories of tremendous abuse by his father, learning to forgive the man “who was my constant nightmare.”  (Much of this new freedom came through God ministering to him alone in his cell over the last couple of months.)  The tears ran.  Barriers of self hatred were being obliterated.  The power of community and fellowship was surfacing.  There was a celebration of the peace of God to whatever the future brings.  There still was a struggle, however, on how to begin to show the remorse and make things right to the victims and their families for the horrible crimes committed.  Having Sun-Do close our time together in prayer displayed the wisdom of God in global connections (the inmate grew up in South America, Sun-Do is from Korea and I’m just a kid from the parries).
Then our time was up and we left.  Only God can surprise us like that, extinguish my fear, confirm my connection to Sun-Do, and speak to us through reconciliation. 

Now that time has passed I’m thinking more about the victims and their families.  Who will show support to them?  God, are you at work there too?  The textbook restorative justice ending to this story would have all people involved on the road to recovery… will that happen?  How far does our role go in this story?

Vision
Restorative Justice seeks to demonstrate Christlike responses where harm and wrong doing had been done,  focusing on situations involving the criminal justice system.  Restorative Justice also seeksconversation with churches about the high calling that the 'ministry of reconciliation.'

Approach
Partnering with and supporting existing church-based restorative justive initiatives wherever possible.  Our hope is that in journeying with people bound up in the harm of wrongdoing, the church will come to a greater realization of its own calling as a faithful witness to the redemptive, transformative work of Jesus Christ.

Why Restorative Justice?

1. Restorative Justice offers a new way of seeing the harm that has been done by supporting the victim and providing accountability to the offender.
2. Rathan than focusing on blame and punishment, this approach embraces a biblical understanding of justice in which both vicim and offender become involved and empowered as they move towards healing and transformation.
3. The role of community, particularly the church (Matt. 18), is key to the restoration of right relationships.
4. This Christian response is rooted in an understanding of Christ's life, death and resurrection, mandating the church to become a reconciling agent in a broken and hurting world
   (2 Cor. 5).

For more information contact Stephen Siemens.

Peace, Justice and Dignity for All People; Harmony with God's Creation.

The opportunities for demonstrating God’s love and creating just relationships are all around us. In Saskatchewan, our work for peace and justice shares themes with much of our international work – seeking justice alongside indigenous communities, welcoming people made refugees by violence, restoring justice within communities harmed by crime, encouraging youth and young adults to become engaged global citizens, building peacemaking skills for all.