Fall Retreat: History
History of the Annual Fall Retreat
The RCT Program has held annual retreats each fall since 2007. The retreats invite eminent scholars and practitioners working in one of the program’s focal areas to lead students and the community in a workshop engaging their work and integrating it with their vision for conflict transformation. The annual retreat has been a rich opportunity to gain new wisdom but also an effective way for students in the RCT program to get to know one another and learn contextually.
The 2007 retreat was led by Joseph Montville, Professor at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Transformation at George Mason University. He is the one who defined the concept of Track II, unofficial diplomacy, having spent 23 years as a diplomat with posts in the Middle East and North Africa. He spoke of his journey in peacebuilding, his work within the Abrahamic Family and his work with the healing of memories.
The 2008 retreat was led by Shelly Rambo on the topic of Practicing Theology in the Context of Trauma: Post-Katrina—type Disasters, Military Chaplaincy, Youth Violence, Refugees, and other Contexts. She was joined by Laura Bender, a Navy Chaplain and student at STH, and Ruth Beresin, director of Refugee Ministries.
The 2009 retreat, “Imagine Peace: Vision, Vocation and Theologies of Change,” was led by Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore and Josh Thomas, BU’s Episcopal chaplain.
In September 2010, the retreat was led by our Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership, Walter Fluker, on the subject of “A Track to the Water’s Edge: Active Non-Violence and the Witness of Howard Thurman.”
In September 2011, our keynote speakers and retreat leaders were Sheila Heen, a Partner at Triad Consulting Group and a Lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Ann Garrido, Associate Professor of Homiletics and former director of the field education program at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. They focused on the subject: “Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most.”
The annual RCT retreat in 2012 was led by Robert Stains, Jr. from the Public Conversations Project, giving a workshop entitled “The Practice of Dialogue.”
The 2013 retreat was led by Yehezkel Landau focusing on the theme of Interfaith Just Peacemaking.
The 2014 retreat was led by professor and hymn writer Revered Dr. Ruth Duck, a graduate of Boston University School of Theology, on the importance of creativity and imagination in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. She particularly focused on the power of music in proclaiming justice. Students were given an opportunity to write hymns about a social justice issue of their choice.
The 2015 retreat focused on Navigating Race and Difference. Rev. Bill Kondrath of the Episcopal Divinity School and Rev. Dr. Lisa Fortuna of Iglesia de San Juan in Boston led the workshop. Given the political backdrop against which this workshop was held, including the protests in Ferguson and the growing importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, this workshop helped people put structural and casual racism into a personalized framework. For the roughly 50 participants, the workshop provided a unique opportunity to put their own sense of self and identity in conversation with that of others. In particular, workshop leaders helped participants understand the “dance of power dynamics” in which everyone participates, to the detriment of both the more and less powerful actor in the dynamic. The workshop also helped people uncover the perspectives they bring from their own personal and family background to interactions with others.
The 2016 retreat was led by Dr. Carl Stauffer of the Graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University on the topic, “Finding Justice amidst the Rubble: Restorative Transitional Justice.” He shared his specialized expertise in restorative justice and trauma response in post-war societies, drawing upon his own work in South Africa, and upon his research of grass root efforts in Sierra Leona and elsewhere.