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The "language of reconciliation is often unclear" and it has sometimes been "manipulated and distorted to serve other ends". But reconciliation reveals "the heart of the gospel," and thus is a paradigm for church mission.
That was the core message that participants at the 9-16 May Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Athens heard from Robert Schreiter, a Roman Catholic priest who teaches at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
Schreiter focused his 14 May presentation on the social dimension of reconciliation, which according to him involves three dimensions: "truth-telling, struggling for justice, working towards forgiveness".
This process implies that churches "must endeavour to create safe, hospitable spaces where truth can be spoken and heard". At the same time, they have to struggle for justice in all its dimensions - punitive, restorative, distributive, structural - if truth-telling is not to sound false and the safe spaces created become barren.
But it is the work towards forgiveness which proves to be the most difficult. Since "it means repentance and conversion on the part of those who have done wrong, acknowledging the wrongdoing and taking the steps to approach the victim in order to apologize and make reparation", the task often remains incomplete.
At the same time, from the point of view of the victim, to be able to walk "the difficult journey towards forgiveness" is indispensable in order to overcome "the toxin that memories of violence, oppression, and marginalization contain".
Churches can only accompany this process by becoming communities of memory and hope which, acknowledging that "reconciliation belongs to God", are nonetheless able to participate "in something much larger than [themselves]: the work of the Triune God in bringing about the healing of the world".
Free high resolution photos to accompany this story are available at:
cwme.wcc-coe.org/High_resolution.884.0.html
Conference website:www.mission2005.org