The Sacrament of Reconciliation
by Kimmothy Cole and Paul Kruse

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is an experiment in contagious healing through forgiveness. It was originally created in collaboration with Kimmothy Cole as part of Paul’s Collaborative Studies in May 2018. It starts as a tactile, ritual experience for four to eight people in a domestic setting. A sacramental text guides this group through a 2-3 hour evening of increasing vulnerability, where time passes in glasses of wine and communal bread-making. When the ritual ends, each of the four takes a copy of the ritual’s text. They commit to leading the ritual with a new group of people on another night. In this way SoR spreads through our community like a healing virus. SoR uses game mechanics, Catholic tradition, and the magical properties of intimacy and vulnerability to invite witnesses into a transformative moment of healing and joy.

SoR is currently undergoing play tests and workshops as part of the development process. Our plan is to bring this to festivals in domestic spaces as an experiment in folk process and the passing on of narrative. This piece encourages decentralization of power around performance and asks that each witness be active and present with everyone involved. Kimmothy and Paul are deeply grateful to playwright I-Chia Chiu, who created a Mandarin translation of SoR in January 2020 before leading the sacrament with her community in Taipei, Taiwan. A link to her translation is below.

If you would like to host The Sacrament of Reconciliation in your own home, please feel free to do so!
Here is a digital version of the document:
The Sacrament of Reconciliation - Full Text
The Sacrament of Reconciliation - Mandarin
If you have any questions, please let us know at paulwkruse@gmail.com.

Also, if you would like to support Kimmothy and Paul’s work with money, click here: