By Rev. Miles Schell Rodnick
ONTARIO FAITH-BASED organizations with a heart to serve the incarcerated and their families gathered on October 18-19 at a conference held at Christ Church St. James (Anglican) in Etobicoke to share insights around restorative justice practice.
Entitled ‘Toward Justice That Transforms’, the 2024 conference focused on the theme ‘What is Missing in the Landscape of Justice in the GTA?’ and delved into what that sense of justice would look like.
Representatives from a variety of groups, including Dismas, Kairos Prison Ministries, Catholic Charities of Toronto, Christ Church St. James, Threshold Ministries, Sisters of St. Joseph, Restorative Justice Housing Ontario, and Prison Fellowship, were on hand to discuss potential avenues to better assist those behind bars and their families.
While we are familiar with the expression “it is what it is”, this is in fact not good enough, according to the discussion that surfaced among participants. They were reminded about Psalm 72:1-4 and the prison letters from St. Paul which invite readers to think about justice and how difficult it is to grasp its true practice. Conference participants were asked to define what would God’s justice look like.
History has taught us that human justice holds a person down for retribution’s sake, where God’s justice heals and lifts people up. During the discussion, participants looked at 2 Corinthians 11:23-24 where Paul lists the punishments he received from the hands of others in contrast to Philippians 1:3-11, the fellowship (Koinonia), which comforted the imprisoned Paul both emotionally and in practical ways.
We might do well to be encouraged with our Diocesan plan Turning to Grace which describes a space made for a just church and where there could be room for church fellowship to the incarcerated. Looking forward, we might embrace the many expressions of reaching-in rather than locking-up to experience an extraordinary compassion that is driven by mercy.
Conference attendees were left with the message that God’s children are not despicable but rather hungry and longing to experience a ‘God of a Christian’ type of justice, and to be loved and to have fellowship in their complicated and often painful stories.
Participants were reminded of how the storytelling process awakens us to who we truly are, and that companioned with sacred listeners at the helm, we can start a journey toward healing, and that words of love - “your story matters to me” - can help a person find their way to freedom as God’s Justice and lead to transformation.
Rev. Miles Schell Rodnick is Vocational Deacon - Prison Ministry. He serves at St. John's, Cambridge.