Circle process is a foundational restorative practice that helps communities build, strengthen and repair relationships through storytelling.
What is Circle Process?
Circle process (also called restorative circles or peacemaking circles) is a foundational restorative practice that helps communities to build, strengthen and repair relationships through storytelling. Circle process is informed by Native and Indigenous peacemaking traditions and can be applied in instances of harm and conflict, as well as for shared reflection and discernment.
In circle process, participants sit in a circle (physical or virtual) and pass a talking piece to signal the speaking order. Facilitators (also called circle keepers) guide the dialogue using a series of prompts or questions to which every person has the opportunity to contribute a response. The structure of circle process allows for rich encounter in which participants share openly and listen deeply.
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Gathering in a circle is an innately human experience. We “circle up” around dinner tables, campfires, and loved ones. It’s a way for people to come together for prayer, celebration, and comfort — with families, friends, and fellow faithful. As a restorative practice, circle process is informed by Indigenous peacemaking circles, an ancient practice that spans diverse cultures. For generations, Native American and Indigenous peoples around the world have used participatory and inclusive processes to address conflict and make decisions in community. Catholic Mobilizing Network honors the people and communities who have shared the wisdom of the peacemaking circle tradition.
Circle Process in Catholic Ministry
Many Christian lay and religious communities rely on methods like circle process for shared prayer, leadership, and decision making. That said, many of our parishes and communities (inside and outside the Catholic Church) have largely moved away from this way of connecting with one another. We are accustomed to more adversarial, hierarchical, and authoritarian ways of managing community life, sometimes at the expense of human dignity and relationships.
It is important to acknowledge that, throughout time, Christian and Catholic individuals and institutions have been complicit in violence that eroded the dignity and rights of Native people and communities, including here in the United States. This violence dismantled families and decimated cultural traditions including ways of peacemaking. Catholic Mobilizing Network humbly acknowledges these injustices as violations of Catholic teaching and offers our deep gratitude to Native American Catholics and Indigenous Peacemakers with whom we are in relationship.
CMN invites Catholics to both embrace the ways that practices like circle processes are present in Christian spiritual life and bear witness to the cultural traditions and ancestral lineage that informs circle process as practiced in restorative justice.
From 2021 to 2024, at the invitation of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church journeyed through the Synod on Synodality, a special global consultation process inviting us to listen, pray, and communally discern so that we might better respond to the movements of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church. A synodal way of proceeding hopes for a renewed sense of participation, mission, and communion.
Circle process offers a concrete methodology for embracing synodality and becoming the listening, discerning Church we are called to be. Engaging this practice in our parishes and ministries enables us to slow down, share openly and listen deeply to one another and the movement of the Holy Spirit.
Sitting in circle symbolizes our connection, equality, and shared dignity.
GET TRAINED Conversations in Communion: Parish Dialogues for Connection and Understanding is a formation program that equips Catholics to introduce the restorative practice of circle process in their parishes and ministries. Together, this facilitator guide and virtual training build capacity for deep listening, authentic encounters, and fuller participation in Catholic parish and ministry life.
