By Caroline Smith
Approaching relationships from a fresh and empathetic perspective was the goal for staff from several West Australian dioceses – including the Archdiocese of Perth – who recently took part in a program of monthly workshops entitled ‘Discovering Restorative Justice Together’.
The program involved 38 participants split into two groups: one group met over four months from July to October, while the second met from August to November, at the Catholic Pastoral Centre in Highgate.
The key activity during each session involved sharing experiences of relationships in a circle formation, with one person speaking at a time while the others listened.
Emmanuel Centre Co-ordinator and workshop organiser, Barbara Harris, said she had studied and used restorative justice principles in the past.
“I was talking about it to other people, and they showed an interest in learning about it, so the Archdiocese said let’s run a program,” she said.
“This had never happened in the Archdiocese before, and it was very humbling. I was overwhelmed by the trust that people put into it.
“We had people who were prison chaplains, people from parish councils, people from schools and agencies, someone from The Safeguarding Project. There was one lady who came from Carnarvon and a representative from the Bunbury Diocese.”
Mrs Harris said the circle model was inspired by the way many Aboriginal communities in Australia and around the world approach conflict resolution, something that she had encountered in her childhood in the northern suburbs of Perth.
“The idea of the circle comes from the way Indigenous people in the past looked at the way to build community,” she said.
“I was fortunate to grow up near a camp of Aboriginal people who came from Busselton originally but who moved to Tuart Hill. So part of my childhood was enriched by living so close to the community.
“I took it for granted growing up, but I later realised how my life had been enriched by this experience. We also had four people from the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry team who came to the workshops.”
Catholic Outreach Director Peter McMinn, who also took part in the workshops, said he was impressed by the unique approach they offered to resolving conflict, quite different from the punitive approach often found in wider society.
“In our existing justice system, when someone is hurt, you do the crime you do the time, and at the end of that, are people healed?” he asked.
“In this model, you realise that there are more people involved in a situation than just the person who’s at fault and the person who’s been directly injured – there are the family of both of those, and the friends of both of those.
“So any act that breaks the relationship has wider ramifications. The restorative justice’s focus on relationships gives us tools and a way of thinking to heal those issues together.”
The restorative justice approach fitted in quite well with the teachings and behaviour of Jesus, Mr McMinn added.
During the circle activity, participants used a ‘talking stick’ to indicate when they wanted to address the group, and this encouraged others to listen to the speaker’s story at greater depth.
“Many people said to me that when others were using the ‘talking stick’, you were really listening: not trying to solve the person’s problems, but listening to them,” Mrs Harris said.
“We hope that this breaks open, for the Archdiocese, a different way of dealing with issues, so that we grow together.”
At the end of the program, participants worked together to plan a special Mass which was celebrated by Catholic Chaplain for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Father Paul Pitzen, at the Catholic Pastoral Centre.