Mission Statement

Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative (JRJI) is a pastoral ministry of restorative justice that strives to heal broken relationships with those who are incarcerated and their families, as well as victims of crime and their families, through prayer, education, and advocacy.

JRJI mobilizes constituencies to advocate for the transformation of the justice system to become more restorative than punitive.

JRJI NEWS | February 2024

Birthday Celebration Reflection

The following is a reflection written by Fr. Michael Kennedy, S.J., after celebrating Mass and facilitating a meeting with families of those incarcerated and formerly incarcerated JRJI graduates at St. Albert the Great Church. 

February 21, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

            Yesterday, at the end of Mass at St. Albert’s Church, where I usually celebrate on Sundays, a small boy came up to me at the front of the church. I bent down and he put a small sign of the cross on my forehead. After he put the sign of the cross on my forehead, a small group of kids came up and also gave me one. There was something very tender in this gesture. It was one of the many small signs of people’s appreciation of the work we do there.

            During the homily, Anthony shared about how he had been locked up for 32 years while being innocent the entire time. Everyone, of course, claims to be innocent, but this was different. He actually was. At his parole board hearing, the board members apologized to him. At his trial decades ago, a woman testified that Anthony had committed the crime, as a way of getting back at him for something he did to her. He was found guilty even though there was never any proof of his involvement in the crime. During all this time being locked up, he filled up many of the JRJI blue books with personal reflections. At Mass, he shared how much this process had helped him stay hopeful and positive. As the congregation looked on, they heard his powerful words of forgiveness toward the person who had put him away for 32 years. Chepe was near by him and held in his hands the stack of writings and material that Anthony had produced while participating in the JRJI retreats. He shared how healing it was for him to stay faithful and respond in writing to the material he was given, and how he had grown in this process by forgiving others.

            After Anthony spoke, I expressed my gratitude for how people had supported me during my years of ministry. The entire Liturgy was filled with joy, from beginning to end. There were at least 60 people present from the JRJI Parent Group, as well as some of the formerly incarcerated young people, who all came to celebrate. After we all listened to the Mañanitas at the end of Mass, we slowly exited the Church and made our way over to the gymnasium for our quarterly gathering of parents and youngsters. This time, they filled the space with balloons and other birthday decorations. It was a lovely and peaceful celebration. There were people there that we had gotten to know in our visits to Sylmar and to other prisons over the years. After everybody ate, a few people got up and spoke about how JRJI has changed their lives. The words were so moving, and they brought all of us a little closer together. It always amazes me how long-lasting the connections are that we made years ago in Juvenile Hall and other places.

            As I think about the bigger picture, I feel how the gathering was about much more than simply celebrating a birthday. I think it was about survival. I think it was about hope. I think it was about second chances and about not giving up. It was about having people who will stand by you for the duration of difficult ordeals. It was about friendship. It was about loss and resurrection and how Jesus has been part of their lives and how He has done so much for them in their transformations. When we took the group picture, I felt like all the people we had been with in prison this last month were also present there with us as well. Some are still hoping to be home soon, and others have LWOP and have a long stretch ahead of them.

            So, what does this all mean? I think yesterday was also a reaffirmation of how we are really God’s sons and daughters. Once you touch this reality, nothing is quite the same. Who would have ever thought that starting a small non-profit in one room of the Jesuit Novitiate years ago would lead to this? Who would have thought that the small mustard seed of an idea for JRJI would grow into helping people change their lives, and laws, and attitudes? Maybe yesterday was actually the celebration of so many years of JRJI working with ups and downs, good moments, hard moments, but at the same time believing that our God is a God of second chances, of unconditional love, and that all of us are His sons and daughters.

When we finally closed up shop in the early afternoon after the mass and the gathering, no one was hurrying off like people usually do because they have to go to something or something else is on their calendar. Yesterday was different. There was a savoring, a deepening of the experience of how a great beautiful plant emerges from a tiny little mustard seed.

            When I got home, a group of us came to my room and opened the presents and gifts that I received. (This is besides the multitude of people who came up to me at Church and put money in my hands telling me to buy a burrito with it.) These small gestures, like the little kid who put the sign of the cross on my forehead, reminds me that we don’t do this alone. Jesus had his “crew,” and so do we. I realize how important it is that we don’t try to ever think that we can build the Kingdom of God alone. It is always a collective endeavor. Always.

            It started to rain as we were finishing. And then it rained hard. This year it seems like the rain never wants to end. But in the morning, I opened the door to my room and looked out at the wide expanse. I saw the mountains in the distance, the ocean off to my left, and everything was clean, clear, renewed, transfigured. How important it is for us to believe in the Paschal Mystery that life does come out of death, and that these are not just words, but a reality. The faces of the youths of color and their parents who came yesterday were a sign that God really can bring life out of death. It is not in the headlines. It is not a blockbuster movie. Rather it lives on in the commitment and love of those who really believe that kids of color should not be dying in prison, but should be sharing food and sharing gratitude with the people they love.

Yesterday was about hope.

Many blessings,

Fr. Mike Kennedy, S.J.

JRJI Executive Director

 

"The words were moving, and they brought all of us a little closer together."

"... a sign that God really can bring life out of death."

We share the poem “Freedom” written by Collin Price, SJ.

Since our last Newsletter Update in the Fall of 2023, our schedule of retreat visits has included the following:

  • Nov 13th-14th

    California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, CA

  • Nov 20th-22nd

    JRJI Team Planning

  • Dec 3rd-4th

    California State Prison (LAC) in Lancaster, CA

  • Dec 11th-12th

    California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, CA

  • Dec 18th-19th

    Calipatria State Prison in Calipatria, CA

  • Jan 8th

    California State Prison (LAC) in Lancaster, CA

  • Jan 15th-16th

    California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, CA

  • Jan 22nd-23rd

    Calipatria State Prison in Calipatria, CA

Upcoming JRJI retreats will include the following:

  • Feb 12th-13th

    California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, CA

  • Feb 14th - Ash Wednesday

    California State Prison in Lancaster, CA

  • Feb 18th

    Parents Meeting

  • Feb 26th-27th

    Calipatria State Prison in Calipatria, CA

  • Mar 3rd-4th

    California State Prison (LAC) in Lancaster, CA

  • Mar 11th-12th

    California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, CA

  • Mar 25th-28th

    High Desert State Prison in Susanville, CA