Reconciliation Ministries

An Opportunity for Healing and Hope

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…not counting their trespasses against them, and He has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  2 Corinthians 5: 17-20

Reconciliation is the restoration of communion between those whose bond of mutual belonging to the body of Christ has been impaired in any way. It is a ministry that never ends, that we are each called to and that comes from our own sense of who we are, broken and gifted children of God. It is a way of being a nonjudgmental presence in our world as we offer each other the compassion of Christ. Reconciliation is God’s gift to us.

The Reconciliation Ministries Team was convened by the Paulist North American Office for Reconciliation Ministries  "to develop a wide pastoral process to address the need for listening, healing, dialogue, and reconciliation in the church today."

Based on the spirit of "all are welcome" the Reconciliation Ministries team at the Newman Center affirms the core values and beliefs of: hospitality, inclusiveness, diversity, respect, compassion, engagement, and unconditional love.

Our intention is to foster a way of being as a community of faith, fully embracing the gospel imperative for compassion and forgiveness, healing wounds and bringing peace. Aware of our common brokenness we are committed to on-going formation acknowledging the need for inner peace to generate peace in the world.

Guided by the Holy Spirit our efforts are focused on:

Welcome

To maintain a spirit of welcoming, inclusiveness and hospitality the team will work to engage the community in ways to eliminate barriers and to be examples of God’s unconditional love.

Outreach

To reach out to those alienated in any way from the practice of their faith the team will work in the spirit of evangelization, creating relationships that embody a loving God to meet people where they are, creating opportunities for all to be heard, to grieve, to forgive and heal in order to ultimately reach peace within and to reconcile with others as the body of Christ.

Dialogue

To provide models for open and honest dialogue the team will work to establish a framework for those involved in the ministry of reconciliation using resources that identify and foster the development of compassionate intrapersonal and interpersonal communication skills.

Programming

To facilitate programs, liturgical services and celebrations of reconciliation and hope the team will work to meet the needs of diverse groups by offering sacramental experiences of reconciliation, faith formation, discussion groups and prayer opportunities recognizing these as on-going needs.

For more information, please contact Becca Schott at (614) 291-4674 x101 or e-mail reconciliation@buckeyecatholic.com

Watch this video from the Paulist Regional Reconciliation Workshop held at the Newman Center on March 12-13, 2010