Prisoners' Sunday 2009
Catholic parishes across England and Wales will mark Prisoners’ Sunday on 15 November - a day of prayer and action for prisoners, their children and families, prison workers, former offenders, and victims of crime.
The theme of Prisoners' Sunday 2009 is Hold Fast to Hope - a hope rooted in the Christian belief that the divine spark is in all people, that no-one is beyond redemption. Change can and does take place.
This year, pact (The Prison Advice and Care Trust) has teamed up with the St Vincent de Paul Society to provide dynamic resources to encourage people to mark Prisoners' Sunday.
The day will see the launch of a new initiative called ‘Basic Caring Communities’ (BaCC), which helps support former offenders.
Basic Caring Communities (BaCC) project
Basic Caring Communities (BaCC) is a project aimed at helping former offenders settle back into the local community. The scheme was pioneered at Wandsworth Prison and is currently rolling out across London. Ultimately, the goal is to see Basic Caring Communities springing up all over the UK.
BaCC works by forming small groups of six trained volunteers who act as a small caring community around a core member – somebody who has just left prison after completing a custodial sentence. Often the members of the group are people of faith. They offer the core member an experience of being valued, of being heard, of belonging in a loving, caring group of people.
Often people leaving prison have never before felt that level of support. The Basic Caring Community remains around the former offender for a few months, until he has developed a support network of his own. The Community offers daily contact. This can be anything from a simple telephone call, to accompanying the core member on a visit to the local Job Centre. Once a week, the whole community come together for an hour, in a neutral place, to enjoy each others company.
The founders of this scheme believe that such an experience of loving care, coupled with some practical help, can change lives and give people the courage to break away from a life of crime.
Monsignor Malachy Keegan is co-founder of BaCC and Principal Catholic Chaplain for Prisons:
“Basic Caring Communities are nothing less than the model for Christian living as described in the Acts of the Apostles. It's a way in which people leaving prison are able to discover that they are still indeed the Children of God with immense dignity and worth. It's also a way in which our parish communities are called back to the heart of the Gospel – to be places of welcome, care and love, especially for those on the edges of our society.”
Click for more on Basic Caring Communities.
A prayer
Father of mercy,
the secrets of all hearts are known to you alone.
You know who is just and you forgive the unjust.
Hear our prayers for those in prison,
Give them patience and hope in their sufferings,
and bring them home again soon.
Roman Missal
Prayer of the Faithful
One of the following may be used or adapted according to local needs:
- For all in prison and their families that they may know the Lord's compassion and love.
- For the judicial system may it practice both justice and mercy.
For more visit the Liturgy Office website.
The relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux visit Wormwood Scrubs
12 October 2009
On 12 October 2009, Archbishop Vincent Nichols celebrated mass with around 100 inmates of Wormwood Scrubs prison, staff and guests in the presence of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux.
Following a moving and prayerful Mass in the Anglican Chapel, the prisoners were able to venerate the relics before returning to their wings in West London’s Category B prison. Two of the prisoners served on the altar.
Father Anthony Doe preached a homily addressing the relevance of St Thérèse to those in prison and why she had become such an enduringly popular saint. One of the reasons for her popularity, he said, was because “she went through a dark night of the soul”. “Jesus wanted to be with those who suffer,” he said and it was through St Thérèse’s illness, pain and suffering that Jesus had revealed himself to her. He urged all to open themselves to the gifts of St Thérèse through prayer so they could come to know Jesus Christ through suffering and adversity.
Archbishop Nichols later said there had been a remarkable sense of peace in the chapel and during the mass. “It reminds us that everyone, no matter how vulnerable, is a spiritual being and has the capacity for peace and wholeness. This is as true for prisoners here in Wormwood Scrubs as it is for anyone else wherever they may be."
“[The] Mass and Veneration in Wormwood Scrubs has been very moving for everyone involved. I am told and have now seen that everywhere the relics of St Thérèse have been in England and Wales, people from all walks of life are keen to be in her presence. This demonstrates the hunger there is for the spiritual in all of us.”
Click for our Flickr photo gallery documenting the visit.
Resources
pact's 'On the Inside' magazine: special Prisoners' Sunday 2009 issue
Prayers for Prisoners' Sunday and Prisons Week (courtesy of Prisons Week)
VIDEO: Behind the scenes of Wandsworth Prison - a visitors' guide
Prisons quiz - see how much you know about our prison system
Resources for Prisons Week (15-21 November)
Christmas card for a prisoner appeal 2009
Many prisoners will be alone this Christmas, imprisoned far away from home, and without the support of family and friends.
pact invites you to write a message in a Christmas card, send it to them, and they'll give your card to a serving prisoner before Christmas Day.
About pact
pact (the Prison Advice and Care Trust) is a charity dedicated to supporting prisoners and their families. pact provides practical services at a number of prisons across England and Wales, including family-friendly visitors’ centres, children’s play areas in the visiting areas of prisons, ‘first night in custody’ schemes and the Basic Caring Communities resettlement of former-offenders initiative.
A Place of Redemption
A Place of Redemption is the Bishops' document offering a Christian perspective on prisons and punishment.
"True justice must produce a positive outcome for the victim, for society and for the offender. It must give every opportunity for criminals to come to terms with what they have done, to recognise their own guilt, and to acknowledge the need for remorse and penitence. In atoning for their past they recognise the human dignity of their victims and they also help to redeem themselves. It must be possible, within such a system, for an offender to make different choices from those that they have hitherto made. And the system must make it possible for that transformation to take place, and be assisted, at every point during the offender’s sentence and life thereafter."
Archbishop Peter Smith
Chair, Department of Christian Responsibility and Citizenship
Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
Read/download
Links
pact (The Prison Advice & Care Trust)
The Churches' Criminal Justice Forum
Image credit
St Therese at Wandsworth Prison: © Marcin Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk