This June, join CMN for a two-part virtual workshop on Transformative Listening, and practice how to listen in ways that bring about justice, healing, and restoration.

The Synod on Synodality has reminded the Church that listening is at the heart of our faith and ministry, and called on the Church to become a “listening Church” modeled after Jesus’ unconditional listening of all who came to him. 

Authentic listening is a fundamental element of the path to healing, repentance, justice and reconciliation.
~A Synodal Church in Mission, 2023

In restorative justice, participants are invited into spaces of vulnerability and need assurance that they will be genuinely listened to, and supported as they, in turn, listen to others. The experience of being deeply heard can open paths of healing, uphold dignity, and restore right relationships. 

Listening is a skill that can be learned and practiced. 

Grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, this workshop will be facilitated by the JUST Listening team, co-authors of The Little Book of Listening: Listening as a Radical Act of Love, Justice, Healing, and Transformation (2023). Across two interactive sessions, they will present and teach concrete tools to help restorative justice practitioners and ministry leaders enhance communication, deepen relationships, and cultivate the transformative power of listening.

Event Details

The training consists of two 2-hour sessions. The sessions are highly interactive: participants are expected to arrive on time and stay for the entirety of the session. To ensure training quality, it is required to participate in the first session in order to attend the second one. 

Dates: 
Session 1: Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 12-2 p.m. ET / 9-11 a.m. PT
Session 2: Wednesday, June 18, 2025, 12-2 p.m. ET / 9-11 a.m. PT

Location:
Virtual via Zoom. The event will not be recorded.

Cost: $30.
This includes:

• Both virtual training sessions
• Premium access to JUST Listening’s virtual library resources of micro-practices
• Access to the training slidedeck and list of resources

Training Objectives

• Gain insight into your own communication styles and challenges.
  
• Identify both barriers to and elements of effective, other-centered communication.
  
• Learn and practice Strategic Questioning—a method that is both empowering and potentially transformative.
  
• Learn and practice simple communication micro-practices in small groups.
  
• Discover how these practices support all restorative and transformational work, and learn how to apply them in personal, professional, and ministry contexts.

I thought I was a terrific listener. I offered my terrific advice, which seemed to be well received. Then I learned that my belief in my own listening ability was actually founded on several of the factors that create impediments to listening justly: my judgment, my ego, a need to ‘fix’ other people and to give unsolicited advice. Learning not to interrupt, to ask thoughtful questions, and to trust the power of silence were ‘ear opening’ for me.
~Charlie B., JUST Listening practitioner

Session Facilitators

Sharon Browning coordinates JUST Listening, helping to build and promote its offerings and managing its many volunteer programs. She is the former Executive Director of Philadelphia VIP, the hub of pro bono legal services in Philadelphia, and served as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Law School teaching both Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Practice and in the Clinical Program. She was a consultant for the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and also taught for 15 years in the Sociology Department at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA concentrating on global and income inequality issues. 

Sharon served on the team of Radical Justice, a project facilitating anti-racism work in faith-based organization, and is also a trained spiritual guide and retreat director.

Fred Magondu has been a member of the JUST Listening Core Team since 2017, shaping the direction of the work, creating workshops and facilitating numerous others. During his incarceration, Fred was also involved with other social justice organizations—including Let’s Circle Up, Alternatives to Violence, Community Forgiveness & Restoration, and Practical Discipleship—which sought to empower prisoners and community members to identify and surface responses and solutions to the issues they face. 

Fred is the father of five children and now lives in Kenya, where he established JUST Listening Africa (JULIA) to introduce listening justly in Kenyan prisons and in the community. He currently provides JUST Listening and restorative justice trainings in two Kenyan prisons. He also works with the marginalized indigenous Taturu community of Chagana in Tabora Province, Tanzania.

About JUST Listening

JUST Listening LLC is a collaborative social enterprise fostering personal and social change and transformation through the practice and teaching of mindful, equitable, and just communication skills. The work of JUST Listening is to facilitate workshops, staff retreats, and ‘difficult’ conversations for lawyers, judges, law students, mediators, social services workers, teachers, criminal legal system actors, and faith ministers. JUST Listening focuses primarily on those working with marginalized individuals and groups.