Reconciliation for Social Cohesion among Religious Women within the Regina Caeli Catholic Parish, Archdiocese of Nairobi, Kenya

Religious women are faced with conflictual situations which sometimes result in broken relationships and the disintegration of communities that should be restored for social cohesion. The study sought how reconciliation promotes social cohesion among religious women within the Regina Caeli Catholic Parish, Archdiocese of Nairobi, Kenya, for a successful transition from unresolved conflicts to social connectedness. The study was guided by the following objective: The use of reconciliation for social cohesion among the religious women within the Regina Caeli Catholic Parish, Archdiocese of Nairobi. The study was anchored on John Lederach’s Conflict Transformation Theory and Emile Durkheim Social Integration Theory. The study adopted a mixed method approach and a convergent parallel research design. The study targeted 194 religious women within the Regina Caeli Catholic Parish. The census method was used to obtain a sample of 194 religious’ women of which 165 participated in the quantitative study and 10 responded to the interview. Questionnaires were used to collect data for the quantitative study, while interview guide was used to collect data for the qualitative study. The data for the quantitative study was analyzed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and was presented in tables while thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data for the qualitative study. There was a significant moderate positive correlation between the two variables, reconciliation and social cohesion, which imply that reconciliation when adopted will help to promote social cohesion among religious women. The study concluded that conflicts remain prevalent among religious women and reconciliation when adopted by religious women can promote social cohesion through social connectedness, the promotion of common good and the respect for human dignity. The study recommends that every religious community should have reconciliation and social cohesion as part of their formation programme.