The New Wine Press vol 25 no 3 November 2016 | Page 12

PBMR: the New Creation

PBMR participant Asa Lee

Paradigm Shift

by Fr. Dave Kelly, c.pp.s., pbmr Director
Richard Rohr, in his new book on the Trinity, The
Divine Dance, says that a paradigm shift becomes necessary when the old structure, the previous paradigm,
has become so full of holes and “patchwork fixes” that
it no longer holds together. It is then that a new way
becomes possible.
One of those paradigms which has been patched and
puttied so many times that it is barely holding together
is our criminal justice system—the way we treat those
that live outside societal norms and standards.
Limited resources and programs have left the
criminal justice system, in many cases, as the only
response to the many social issues: trauma, economic
disparities, unemployment, race, inequities, etc. As the
old adage goes, when all you have is a hammer, then
everything looks like a nail. Even after all the money
spent on prisons and jails, social ills still plague our
communities. It has become obvious that the criminal
justice syste m is not equipped to respond to the needs
10 • The New Wine Press • November 2016

of those who have been isolated and marginalized for
decades.
We need only to consider the growing tension
between the police and communities of color. The fear
and mistrust between the police and community is
only one example of a system that is ill equipped and
unable to respond. For far too long, the police and the
courts are called upon not only to keep us safe, but
also to cure the social ills that we face as a nation. That
it is failing says more about our resistance to change
and our unwillingness to confront the real issues than
about the system itself.
Police and courts were never supposed to deal with
trauma. How did it come to be that our police and our
courts are now expected to deal with all the trauma in
the lives of people and communities?
Terrance is a young man who has been removed
from his home and placed in a secure institution—
a detention center of sorts. He is there because he
violated his probation order of house arrest. While
the courts have been clear, he regularly violates that
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