On Thursday 23rd September we joined in conversation with our guests Mark and Mary Hurst, Pastoral Workers for the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ). Both Mark and Mary are ordained Mennonite Ministers with Masters degrees in Peace Studies and Christian Formation and retired Mennonite mission workers. They have been leading workshops and teaching in church institutions for the past forty years in the area of conflict transformation, conflict in the church and peacebuilding as well as serving as pastors to eight congregations in three countries. Prior to congregational ministry they worked with university students through Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship in the USA and various prison ministries in the USA, Canada, and Australia.
You can view the video recording of the session here
In responding to wrongdoing, both criminal justice practice and theological reflection use the language of guilt and punishment.
In contrast, restorative justice asks three questions: (1) Who has been hurt? (2) What are their needs? and (3) Whose obligations are these? This is very different to asking what laws have been broken, who did it, and what they deserve.
The starting points for restorative justice and the criminal justice system are fundamentally different. One assumes a powerful system where the other assumes relationship. One focuses on an individual, the other, a community. Finally, one prescribes punishment where the other seeks restoration.
Mark and Mary gave a presentation that addressed the basics of restorative justice, and John moderated a discussion that covered a wide range of questions.
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