Building ‘circles of peace’ to bandage a broken world

Editor’s note: To celebrate the Year for Consecrated Life we are replacing the “Five Minutes with Father” series with “Conversations with the Consecrated,” which will feature interviews with various people living consecrated lives in the archdiocese.

He is: Missionary of the Precious Blood Father David Kelly, director of the  Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, at 51st and Elizabeth streets.

Youth: “From fifth grade on I grew up in a small town called Greenville, Ohio, and went to St. Mary’s School. My dad worked at the Westinghouse factory. There are eight of us, five boys and three girls, so Mom didn’t work outside the home. Young and idealistic, I wanted to be a priest-doctor missionary in South America.”

Why the Society of the Precious Blood? “The Sisters of the Precious Blood, and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, served the parish where I was born.  And my uncle was also in the community. The strong charism of the community is working for reconciliation.” [The Missionaries of the Precious Blood believe in the power of the blood of Jesus, shed for all, to change the world.]

Range of your ministry?  “It’s always been jail. I’ve been working in Kolbe House here for the past 30 years -- in parishes as well. I was at Assumption Church near 24th and California 18 years or better. In 2002, along with some others, we began this Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation.

“We work with those who have experienced conflict or violence and try to create a space where they can come together, both offenders and victims, and work toward reconciliation. We try to form an environment of hospitality where they can talk, and hear one another, and rebuild relationships severed due to any kind of violence.

“And it’s a community-based effort. There’s a web of relationships connecting one another. We’ve traineda number of organizations and churches to be involved in this work, but not many Catholic parishes. Some that are, like Holy Cross-Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Agnes parishes are working with some of the kids who are disconnected or court-involved. We’ve also gone to some parishes where there’s staff conflict and tried to build a healthier church.  Churches may not know about us. Also like most people they just wait out conflict and hope it goes away.”

What’s the model? “It’s called the peace-making circle. It fits into our charism which is an emphasis on safety, and values-based dialogue. It’s a practice that comes from first nation people in North America and others in New Zealand and Australia. When I read Kay Pranis’ book I found the peace making circle was exactly what we needed to bring separated people together.”

How do you measure success? “It’s really about connectedness. So, if a young person coming out of the detention center participates in our program, comes to us on a regular basis, or to other institutions or churches, for me that’s ‘success.’ And of course we hope they’re happy or content. We strive to measure it, but there’s so many factors involved.

“With any community that’s fractured, real success is when they come together and form community again. Where one side is not forced to leave, but rather both can occupy the community together. So we continue to have young people who are from a variety of opposing gangs sitting in the same space, sharing their stories, feelings and thoughts, without using violence. They find they aren’t all that different from one another. Little by little you start to change attitudes, and the way people treat one another, because they come to know that person. Reconciliation is the long term goal.”

What’s the ‘formula’ with fractured families? “It’s basically the same. The practice of peace making circles is the methodology. First, you always create a safe place, no matter if it’s a family, gang or church. Then they can bring their values and needs to that space. You tend to those kinds of relationships and then you get to whatever the issue might be, a burglary, violence or something like that. But that’s done after you’ve created an environment where we have a relationship with one another.”

Spiritual life: “We have Mass in the center and I go out and have Masses in different places, kind of a missionary thing. Here on staff we have three missionaries and two sisters of the Precious Blood.  We have prayers together several times a week and Mass together and just the work itself is an extension of our prayer. Being in right relationship with one another is what I strive to do. Matthew 25, to visit the poor and the sick … when was I in prison? That of course is important to us.” 

Your average day: “There’s no typical day. It’s working with young people and families. Maybe going to court with someone. There are more meetings than I would like, but usually they’re strategy meetings.

“We’ve trained a lot of people in Chicago Public Schools in peace making circles. It’s a philosophy versus a religion, so CPS lets us come in. We have a mentoring program where kids are connected to mentors.

“We have a mixed staff, lay and religious, African American, white and Latino. Young and old, about seven staff people, not all full time, and about 30 volunteers, who work either here at Precious Blood Center, or the Juvenile Detention Center. We do peace making circles in the JDC as well.

“We get a little funding from our religious community, individuals and grants and foundations. So it’s writing those grants and doing direct appeals. The county gives us a little money for services rendered, and we have a little grant with the Probation Department that helps us, but that’s pretty much it right now.”

Do you ever feel frustrated?“My frustration doesn’t come from the people we serve. It comes from the systems that don’t tend to the needs of families and communities. Frustration comes more with the system that incarcerates 85 percent black, and 14 percent Latino.  It comes with a system that tries children as adults even though they’re children. The mass incarceration, the racism that’s inherent in these communities, that’s where I really get my Irish dander up. When we have a lot of violence in our communities I feel more pain and hurt than frustration.”

How can others help the mission? “There’s a host of things people are already doing. Of course they can contribute financially and that helps. But also to be aware of what is happening -- that a young black male is seven times more likely to go to prison than a white male, even though they may have committed the same offense.

“It’s the injustices inherent in the economic differences. In a neighborhood like mine, our young people and families have so few resources to rely upon, but other communities have ample resources. It’s that kind of injustice people have to become aware of. They have to fight the temptation in their personal lives to label and blame. Instead, create an environment where people can become more of a community. They can also make their voices heard with their legislators on some of the issues that are a part of our work.

“Like the automatic transferring of juveniles to the adult courts, and extreme sentencing, where 15-year-olds get 50 years in prison. From a learning point of view, we know children aren’t capable of thinking things through rationally at the early ages. So those are some of the things people can be aware of.

“People can volunteer. They can just come and visit the center, or invite us out to share the story and bring some young people to share that story more fully. It depends on how involved the person wants to get.

“The Campaign for Human Development has been very helpful. Certain parishes like St. John of the Cross in Western Springs and Holy Cross Parish in Stockton, Illinois, have been a real friend of ours. They’ve supported us in a host of ways, not just economically, but by being there to encourage us and visit and help the community garden.

“It started with a relationship with a particular parishioner.  She came to a fund-raiser and saw and heard the story of some of the young people. She went back kind of on fire. She told other parishioners and all of a sudden there was a cohort of people. The parish invited us out, and we’ve had a good relationship ever since. That’s usually the way things happen.”

Leisure: “I work a lot but I’m also physical -- running, biking and things like that to stay in shape. I read a lot. The book I’m working on is called “Redeeming a Prison Society” by Amy Levad. Another I recommend is “Locked Down; Locked Out,” by Maya Shenwar. I’m not a ‘novel’ person. This is what I tend to read. It motivates me.

The biggest thing: “It’s not what I do for others but what others do for me. The work I do with the young people, their families or the community is mutual. By their loyalty, and willingness to be vulnerable, their willingness to be in relationship with us, is very powerful and makes me a better priest, and a better human being. People think, don’t you do wonderful work? Yeah, we do, but we also receive so many blessings in this work.”