The Church of Ireland Diocese of Down and Dromore will reach a milestone in its ‘Think Again’ campaign for reconciliation in the community with a major one-day conference in the Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle on Saturday, 22 November 2003 starting at 9am.

The conference theme is “A time to heal” and more than 400 delegates from the Down and Dromore parishes and their guests will attend to encourage and affirm new initiatives in building up community relations.

The conference will be opened by the Rt Rev Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore.

The keynote speaker is the Rev Jerome Munyangaju, Rector of Killyleagh, who first came to Northern Ireland in 1995 as a missionary after training in Tanzania, India and the UK. He knows the pain of living through the Rwandan genocide that killed his sister and other relatives and friends.

Rev Munyangaju says: “The work of reconciliation in society is a Christian mandate. As a church we have a distinctive contribution to make, even beyond the peace that may be achieved by political means.”

The ‘Time to Heal’ conference will also offer some 30 workshops covering a broad range of topics from sectarianism to community relations, trauma awareness to Protestant Catholic identity.

Conference Organiser, Rev Charles Leeke, Reconciliation Development Officer in Down and Dromore Diocese, says: “This is a milestone in the 5-year ‘Think Again’ strategy launched by Down and Dromore in 2000. It is a platform on which to renew and build up future work on reconciliation at local level. I am confident the churches can sustain the impetus for reconciliation that this conference represents.”

At the conference will be guests from the USA , Dr Carolyn Yoder, a psychologist, and Dr Jayne Docherty, Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University, Virginia. On a lighter note ‘The Cracked Pot’, a colourful group of puppeteers, will add their distinctive contribution to the day’s events.