The difference between civilization and mutually assured destruction is reconciliation, according to the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of North Carolina, who preached at the start of Trinity Institute’s 36th national conference held Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 at the Parish of Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York City.

Each person has been given a choice and a mission, according to Bishop Curry. He said the secret to surviving is to recognize that each person can choose how we respond to the events that affect them. “The choice is ours,” he said, “chaos or community...This mission of reconciliation is for the very life of the world.”

The decision to base this year’s conference on the theme of reconciliation was “not a reaction to the sexuality issues in the Church,” according to Donna Presnell, assistant manager for promotion and public relations at Trinity, but “about reconciliation wherever it is needed.” The location of Trinity, Wall Street, which is within a few blocks of Ground Zero for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is a constant reminder of what happens when hatred is the motivating force behind human behavior. That traumatic event provided at least as much inspiration for this year’s conference theme as debate over sexuality, she said. The conference drew about 350 people to Trinity. Interested persons also were able to participate remotely via closed-circuit television at 14 locations around the country and also via video streaming on the internet.

In addition to Bishop Curry, keynote speakers and preachers included the Rev. James Alison, a Roman Catholic theologian, priest and author; Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, a Roman Catholic nun whose work with prisoners on death row was the focus of an Academy Award-nominated Hollywood film; Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, an active member of the Bawa Muhaiyadeen Fellowship and Mosque and an assistant professor of religion in the Women Studies Department of the University of Florida; and Miroslav Volf, director of Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School.

The addresses and panel discussions were interwoven with theological reflection in small groups. The group process was designed in partnership with the widely used Education for Ministry program of the School of Theology at the University of the South. The technique was new to the conference this year and was intended to “open the possibility of the inner work of reconciliation” so that participants could more fully explore a personal call to be an agent of God’s reconciling work, according to the event website.

Episcopal News Service contributed to this report.

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