About Us

ABOUT THE OFFICE

The Office of Conciliation is charged by the Archbishop, in the name of the Church of Chicago, and in service to the gospel to assist believers in settling their conflicts and thus to repair and restore table harmony. The Office of Conciliation provides dispute intervention, consultation, and assistance to parishes, agencies, and individuals desiring to restore and improve relationships.

The Office of Conciliation provides its services without cost, funded by the generosity of the many parishes in their support of the Archdiocese.

The process of conciliation is available to assist in the resolution of disputes between:

• Individual members of the Church and its parishes or groups within the Archdiocese when a dispute concerns a church-related matter.
• A person and an administrator or administrative agency of the Archdiocese when it is contended that Church law, Archdiocesan policy and procedures or natural equity may have been violated.

THE GOAL OF THE CONCILIATION PROCESS

The goal of the Archdiocesan conciliation process is shaped by, and anchored in, Scripture. Simply, that goal is to assist those engaged in disputes to settle those disputes within the context and spirit of peace and reconciliation. The goal then is to bring not only resolution to problems, but to restore broken relationships whenever possible.

Conciliation achieves its goal by creating an atmosphere where faith, prayer, respect for truth, compassion for failure, understanding human weakness, openness to conversion and readiness to change are part of the fabric of the resolution to the problem.

HOW THE PROCESS WORKS

Employees, pastors, agency directors, lay volunteers and individual members of the Church who have been unable to find a solution to a Church-related problem may contact the Office of Conciliation to initiate the process to determine whether or not the problem is within the jurisdiction of the Office of Conciliation. If the problem falls within the aegis of the Office of Conciliation, and the disputing parties agree to enter into the conciliation process, a Volunteer Conciliator is assigned to assist the parties in resolving their disputes.

ASSURING NEUTRALITY IN CHURCH-RELATED DISPUTES

In order to promote objectivity and impartiality in resolving disputes, the process of conciliation and arbitration operates without influence or interference from the ordinary administrative channels of the Archdiocese. This is to insure a fair outcome of independent judgment, neither favoring the Archdiocese of Chicago nor the parties in dispute.

HOW DOES A PERSON REQUEST THE SERVICES OF THE OFFICE OF CONCILIATION IN DISPUTE MATTERS?

To initiate the process of conciliation, a person [Petitioner] contacts the Office by phone, email or letter, and describes the nature of the dispute [Problem] with a member of the Office, who will determine the jurisdiction of the issue, and will either assist in attempting to resolve the issue, or will direct the petitioner to the persons/offices with jurisdiction.

For a full description of the process and for more information contact:

OFFICE OF CONCILIATION
Post Office Box 1979
Chicago, Illinois 60690-1979
Phone: (312) 534-8291
Fax: (312) 534-8307
Email:concil@archchicago.org

Ralph Bonaccorsi
Executive Director
(312) 534-8291
E-mail: rbonaccorsi@archchicago.org