Sitting in Circle as a Synodal Church
The Sunday Mass experience at my home parish is unusual. Before walking through the front doors to encounter the smiling faces of our greeters, we are met by a loyal handful of protestors who line the sidewalk and carry posters bearing accusations towards the parish of stealing, lying, and sacrilege regarding the closing and attempted sale of another neighborhood church. It’s an uncomfortable, unsettling encounter that makes my stomach churn.
It is also a weekly reminder of the deep wounds that exist in my community and the ever-present need for healing. In the realm of the criminal legal system, where my professional vocation resides, the growing response to the need for healing is through restorative justice — an alternative vision of justice which focuses on the harm caused and what is needed for healing, instead of on the crime committed and its appropriate punishment.
The global Roman Catholic Church, too, is responding to a need for healing by doubling down on the practice of synodality within the Church. Synodality is a way of being together and listening to one another.
The formal process known as the Synod on Synodality, convened in 2021 and culminating in fall of 2024, has been inviting us to find ways to put this communal-sharing-and-discerning into practice, a lofty goal which will inevitably uncover wounds in need of healing in all of our communities.
The purpose of this process, according to the Synod’s preparatory document, is to “inspire people to dream about the church we are called to be, to make people’s hopes flourish, to stimulate trust, to bind up wounds, to weave new and deeper relationships, to learn from one another, to build bridges, to enlighten minds, warm hearts, and restore strength to our hands for our common mission.”
These words carry strong echoes of the goals of restorative justice, especially as applied to peacemaking circles, one of the hallmark practices of the philosophy. In The Little Book of Circle Processes, Kay Pranis introduces circles as a new practice drawing on ancient Native American traditions that is “bringing people together to understand one another, strengthen bonds, and solve community problems.” Utilizing tools like consensus-based values and a talking piece — a symbolic object that is passed around the circle to denote who is the speaker — circles build a foundation of respect and equality that makes space for intense emotions and difficult conversations.
Importantly, peacemaking circles are an intentional act with a specific flow, as Pranis explains. In situations of conflict, trained facilitators prepare participants ahead of time. When the group gathers, there is a guided process through opening ceremony, identifying shared values and guidelines, connecting through storytelling, sharing concerns and hopes, expressing feelings, exploring underlying causes of conflict or harm, generating ideas for addressing the harm, identifying areas of consensus, clarifying action steps, closing and following up afterwards. Circles move at a pace contrary to the very goal-oriented agendas of most meetings within the dominant U.S. culture.
For several years I facilitated a support circle for families with loved ones in jail or prison. We sat on chairs in a circle with a candle and other symbolic objects on a colorful cloth on the floor in the middle. We began by reading our values statement, sharing a short prayer, and passing one of the objects around as a talking piece as we answered an initial check-in question one by one: What have you celebrated, and what have you grieved during the past month since we’ve been together?
One person might share good news: a prison visit had gone well, a strained relationship had healed, someone had gotten a new job. Another might be in the midst of intense suffering: reports of abuse from their loved one, a guilty verdict and long prison sentence, inability to pay for a better attorney. There was room for both — and everything in between — in this space where we enjoyed trust, respect, and mutuality. It didn’t magically fix anyone’s situation or erase anyone’s pain, but as each person’s story opened up within the circle, their burdens became a bit lighter.
Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), an organization dedicated to ending the death penalty and promoting restorative justice across the United States, is leading the charge in connecting restorative justice — specifically the practice of peacemaking circles — with synodality. Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Executive Director of CMN, underscores the need to recognize this link and put it into action:
Now is the time for the church to recognize and embrace the synergistic relationship between synodality and restorative justice, because though the 2023 Rome-based assembly has ended, the work of the synod is far from over. Engaging restorative justice now — putting to use its time-tested principles and practices in our parishes and ministries — can help us become the listening, reconciling church we are called to be.
Some faith communities already excel at being a “listening, reconciling church.” Many, perhaps most, fall short.
I see my local parish striving to be this kind of church. One Sunday my pastor was outside talking with two of the individuals holding signs. At outdoor Masses on the street during the summer, parishioners offer them the sign of peace.
A few months ago, I was part of a sit-down meeting with the protestors in the parish rectory. A parish staff person and good friend of mine was serving as liaison with the group to get their input regarding the handling of sacred objects inside the closed church. My contribution was to propose and agree on ground rules of taking turns to speak, honoring a time limit, and avoiding personal attacks. One by one, each person around the table verbally affirmed their acceptance of these guidelines, and from there we moved to the heart of the matter.
Speaker after speaker expressed feelings of anger, distrust, and hurt. They showed pictures on their phones of objects being removed and damaged. They cited conversations they said were filled with lies and disrespect. The feeling of consensus quickly dissolved. Parts of the meeting turned into heated, back-and-forth exchanges of false accusations and the staff person’s attempt to respectfully but firmly clarify the facts from the parish’s point of view. A couple of action steps were agreed upon, but the following Sunday most of the group were back outside the church protesting.
I felt deflated. I had high hopes that, seeing how sincere we were in our desire for reconciliation, they might decide to join us inside the church instead of continuing to protest. Looking back, I realize I was trying to take shortcuts. I had pulled some values from my knowledge and experience with circles while maintaining a quick-solutions mindset.
Today, I am convinced more than ever of the need for circle practice within faith communities, but my perspective on implementation has shifted. Instead of looking for conflicts in need of peacebuilding, we should all learn to be together in the way of a circle — even groups that are seemingly getting along just fine.
This is especially true as we seek to become a more synodal church. Journeying together in synodality, like a peacemaking circle, is a slow process that begins first and foremost with relationship, with learning to see one another as fellow human beings. If we focus on creating a connection through our common human experience, the healing of our wounds will follow.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Cortina is a mother raising three bilingual, bicultural children alongside her Mexican husband. She advocates for transformative and restorative justice through her work in prison ministry and parish outreach at Kolbe House Jail Ministry in Chicago, Illinois.
