In the News: SBI and Restorative Justice Conference Featured in Holland Sentinel
It's going to be a bit of an unusual conference. The public can attend, but the organizers cannot.
"Hope for Restoration: Radical Hospitality and Prison Reform" was conceived and organized by inmates from the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia. Although they cannot be at the conference, the Calvin Prison Initiative Students from the R.A. Handlon Correctional Facility will have a chance to watch recordings of the proceedings later.
The Saint Benedict Institute is hosting "Hope for Restoration: Radical Hospitality and Prison Reform," a daylong conference on restorative justice, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, March 4, in the Maas Center at Hope College.
The conference developed after Eric Boldiszar connected with Jared Ortiz, Ph.D., of the Hope religion faculty and executive director of the Saint Benedict Institute.
"He read an interview with me in the FAITH Grand Rapids magazine a few years ago," Ortiz said. "He invited me to the prison to speak to his restorative justice reading group. I did and was very blessed by the exchange. We kept up a correspondence."
(VIDEO) “Hope for Restoration: Radical Hospitality and Prison Reform” Conference on Restorative Justice
“Hope for Restoration: Radical Hospitality and Prison Reform”
A Conference on Restorative Justice Organized by Calvin Prison Initiative students from the R.A. Handlon Correctional Facility
Saturday, March 4, 2017
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Maas Center at Hope College
264 Columbia Ave.
Holland, Michigan 49423
The Saint Benedict Institute hosted “Hope for Restoration: Radical Hospitality and Prison Reform,” a day-long conference on restorative justice, on Saturday, March 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Maas Center at Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
The public was able to do something that the event’s organizers cannot: attend. The conference was conceived and organized by inmates from the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, who will have a chance to watch recordings of the proceedings later.
The conference’s keynote speakers were Ted Lewis of the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota; Kristen Deede Johnson, associate professor of theology and Christian formation at Western Theological Seminary; and Eric Boldiszar, Handlon inmate and Calvin Prison Initiative student, through a pre-recorded presentation.
Other speakers and panelists included Bishop David J. Walkowiak, Diocese of Grand Rapids; Rep. David LaGrand, state representative (D) for Grand Rapids; Rep. Joe Haveman, former state representative (R) for Holland; Troy Rienstra of Network for Real Change; Warden DeWayne Burton of Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility; Tricia Worrell, director of prison and jail ministry, Diocese of Grand Rapids; and Julie Bylsma and Todd Cioffi of Calvin Prison Initiative.
In addition to the Saint Benedict Institute, the conference was presented in partnership with Hope College, Calvin College, Calvin Seminary, the Calvin Prison Initiative and the Corpus Christi Foundation. The Calvin Prison Initiative is a partnership between Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary that provides a Christian liberal arts education to inmates at Handlon. A total of 40 inmates are participating in the initiative, which leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree in ministry leadership.
Event co-sponsors included Hope Campus Ministries, the Center for Ministry Studies, the Dean of Social Sciences, the Dean of Arts and Humanities, the Departments of Art and Art History, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Sociology and Social Work; Encounter with Cultures Program, Emmaus Scholars Program, Hope United for Justice, Hope Catholics, Hope College Republicans, Hope College Markets & Morality, and the Tocqueville Forum.
Homosexuality and Anthropology Day of Study
On Saturday, February 20, 2016, from 9:00-4:00, the Saint Benedict Forum hosted a Day of Study on the theme, "Homosexuality and Anthropology." The study day consisted of four papers, each of which addressed the question, "What does the virtue of chastity mean for the gay person?" Joshua Gonnerman, Daniel Mattson, Eve Tushnet, and Daniel Keating all offered 25 minute papers on this question. Each paper was followed by 30 minutes of conversation with the twenty invited "thoughtful interlocutors" from the region: priests, counselors, family and marriage therapists, chaplains, professors, artists, leaders from the Diocese of Grand Rapids, and religious sisters.
It was a riveting day of fellowship and meaningful exchange.
Deification Day of Study
On March 7, the Saint Benedict Forum, Western Theological Seminary, and Hope College hosted a Day of Study on the theme, "Foundational Issues in the Western Understanding of Deification."
On Saturday, March 7th, the Saint Benedict Forum, Western Theological Seminary, and Hope College hosted a Day of Study on the theme, "Fundamental Issues in the Western Understanding of Deification."The overall goal of the Day of Study is to provide a leisurely opportunity for scholars in the region to explore together questions of theological and cultural import.
There were four informal papers:
Carl Mosser (Notre Dame) - “How Deification was Mislabeled as ‘Eastern’: Ritschl, Harnack, and the Russian Diaspora”
Jared Ortiz (Hope College) - “Deification in the Early Latin Liturgy”
Daniel Keating (Sacred Heart Seminary) - “Typologies of Deification”
Kirsten Laurel Guidero (Marquette University) - "A Pneumatic Deification? Resources and Trajectories from the Traditions on Theosis."
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A dozen interlocutors from the region were invited to engage each paper in an extended period of discussion. The discussions were thoroughly enjoyable and spilled over into the breaks and lunch and after the event.
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Here are a few more pictures from this delightful day:
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