ROM - Renewing Our Minds

12/06/2026

We were honored to participate in a workshop on Romanian-Serbian friendship. ROM community member Laura Acsah Radu has done a fantastic job organizing this series of events focused on building community, bridging divides, and offering mental health support.

10/06/2026

ROM speaker Mirela Popaja Hadzic shares about ongoing divisions in Bosnia as well as the hope she has for the future as a result of her peacebuilding work among women:

"One woman said something that stayed with me long after the workshop ended: “I do not look at someone’s name or surname [which immediately identifies them as a Bosniak, Croat, or Serb]. I look at the person.” She also shared that life had taught her that even when a person breaks apart, they can still rebuild themselves and find meaning again. In that moment, I realized how deeply connected that idea was to Kintsugi itself — accepting the cracks without allowing them to define us only through pain."

https://www.peacecatalyst.org/blog/2026/6/4/3y1tflt2qdsrxoadlyz9ymg4omka5s?fbclid=IwY2xjawSV86RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEePQgahxVI2OglFTUITIBx0A-fy9F4WYcaF6f2swThqB4UjKKdOR6vZyb2GvQ_aem_NkOyfZBYNVifSjbUIrIPOw

Over the past three months, I had the opportunity to be part of a local project called “Safe and Strong – Women Shaping Communities,” through which I led Kintsugi workshops in different towns across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, symbo...

04/05/2026

The Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation is happy to welcome to our board!

Kimberly attended ROM first in Fuzine, Croatia in 2003. That encounter ignited a spark that grew into her work on healthy conflict. The lessons and examples of the young men and women of the former Yugoslavia have inspired her efforts for over twenty years.

Kimberly Hart is dedicated to fostering civil dialogue through her work as Executive Director of .

With a background in law and human rights advocacy, Kimberly brings a unique
perspective to peacebuilding, having worked in child welfare and international human rights across the Middle East, Southeast Europe, and the U.S. Her passion for creating spaces where meaningful conversations can happen stems from her belief that listening and understanding are key to healing societal divides through building relationships of trust and vulnerability.

At Fairlight Farm, Kimberly and her husband John, a former ROM board member from the early 2000s, are actively involved in land stewardship on the historic property, including wetland rehabilitation and preservation of rural viewscapes. She is the author of Restoration Glass, a book exploring how place, stories, and critical thinking can lead to healthier conflicts and stronger communities.

Kimberly has four children, two cats, a slightly anxious dog, and two goats who are livestock-not-pets. And when she isn’t trying to write something, she is probably trying to read something.

04/05/2026

We are very glad to welcome Kimberly Ann Mazzocco Hart to the Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation board! As the Executive Director of Fairlight Forum, Kimberly spends a lot of time, thinking, speaking, and writing about dialogue and reconciliation. You can read her writing at https://kimberlyamhart.substack.com/ or you can learn more about Fairlight and her book, Reconciliation Glass, here: https://fairlightforum.org/restoration-glass/

https://www.forumforleadership.org/news-and-updates/forum-welcomes-new-board-member-kimberly-hart

The Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation held its annual board meeting from January 16–19, 2026 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  In addition to strategic planning for the short- and long-term future of ROM and EDI, the Forum also welcomed to our board our newest member, Kimberly Hart of Maryland.

22/04/2026

Former ROM Director Tihomir Kukolja wrote an excellent and moving profile of Franjo Starčević, a Croatian peacemaker who played an instrumental role in preserving peace between Croats and Serbs in the Gorski Kotar region of Croatia, home to long-term home of ROM, Fužine, and last summer's ROM location, Tuk Mrkopaljski.

"At a time when peacemaking was not desirable in Croatia, and was even life-threatening, Franjo devoted himself loyally to bringing together the Gorski Kotar Croats and Serbs. Even today, it is little known that during the war years of the 1990s, of all the regions in Croatia inhabited by Serbs and Croats, only Gorski Kotar was spared wartime conflicts and destruction.

"This did not happen by chance. Nor did it happen thanks to the official Croatian policy of the time. The fact that during all those war years, Gorski Kotar alone persisted as an oasis of peace in Croatia can be attributed primarily to the persistence and sacrifice of Franjo Starčević, and the influence of a group of Gorani — among them the Delničan Josip Horvat and Nada Glad — who did not allow themselves to be guided by the dictates of the times, filled with fear, prejudice, division and national hatred, but dedicated their lives to creating an atmosphere of peace, trust and calming passions in the mutual relations between the Croats and Serbs of Gorski Kotar."

https://autograf.hr/ne-zaboravimo-hrvatskog-mirotvorca-franju-starcevica/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRVWTBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFqbUZDR2JpOVA4OGlUNTAwc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsflnlMaXkE-ht33Y8BF_B0QE2PB-7vgSpYJi4uGjYIA3cNHX6p6oCkB_i67_aem_Uxg-YVKi2owolwFJlPItCw

Tihomir Kukolja DUM SPIRO, SPERO Ne zaboravimo hrvatskog mirotvorca Franju Starčevića Autograf.hr

15/04/2026

We are so grateful for the connection with Africa Youth Leadership Forum, founded by ROM alumnus Philip Ojok, through whom Branly Madati and other young leaders from East Africa have joined our ROM gatherings in recent years. Branly shared with us some of the ways that his experiences at ROM contributed to his work with Purpose Discovery.

Branly Madati, from Tanzania, first attended the Renewing Our Minds (ROM) summer gathering in 2022. But last year, summer ROM 2025 in Tuk, Croatia, sparked a desire to take the lessons of ROM back to his ministry in Tanzania. Branly runs Purpose Discovery, a ministry that seeks to provide a safe env...

01/04/2026

This summer, Renewing Our Minds returns to Crikvenica, Croatia June 27-July 4, 2026, for a week of teaching, dialogue, and community built around the theme (An)other.

It's a theme that asks young leaders of tomorrow a deceptively simple question: What does it genuinely mean to encounter someone different from yourself? That question has been at the heart of ROM since 1999.

You can find more information and register here: https://www.forumforleadership.org/rom-2026-summer-event

https://www.forumforleadership.org/news-and-updates/from-an-%22other%22-to-another%3A-rom-2026

This summer, Renewing Our Minds returns to Crikvenica, Croatia June 27-July 4, 2026, for a week of teaching, dialogue, and community built around the theme (An)other.

30/03/2026

We are past 50% capacity, but there are still spots left for the Renewing Our Minds gathering June 27-July 4, 2026 in Crikvenica, Croatia. More info and registration at forumforleadership.org/rom2026.

23/03/2026

Join us at the Renewing Our Minds summer gathering in Crikvenica, Croatia, June 27-July 4, 2026! More info and registration at forumforleadership.org/rom2026

25/02/2026

Yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine. This article by Ukrainian theologian Taras Dyatlik shares a perspective on peace that resonates with many of the themes we discussed at ROM last summer:

"As Ukraine marks four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, and as pressure grows for a “peace deal” that would reward Russian aggression and leave millions of Ukrainians under occupation, I see a dangerous pattern in some parts of the Western church: a willingness to accept peace that merely moves violence out of sight rather than confronting its roots. It is Hezekiah’s error: prioritizing personal comfort over lasting justice and becoming fatigued by others’ suffering rather than standing in solidarity with them.

We have buried six members of my close and extended family. Five more are serving at the front. I am writing not as a distant observer. My family and I live with the direct consequences of other people’s choices about our future.

Hezekiah’s mistake was not that he wanted peace. Peace is good. His mistake was wanting peace only for himself and seeking it by showing his treasures to those who would later harm his children. He gave up long-term faithfulness for the comfort he had right then. But we, as the community of hope, are not called to take the easy, short-term path."

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/02/ukraine-russia-war-anniversary-prophetic-church-theologian/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQLqPZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeCK69ytqyByz6JfqomBseTVj7DaBGCwsD5dzpSFOWdG1GWuNffuE28weZixk_aem_Ce-FVLkhURz9ewBEwsihzg

On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Ukrainian theologian meditates on self-interested calls for a comfortable peace.