THE P RTAL
June 2016 Page 22
Prison Ministry in the Year of Mercy and Beyond
A Catholic Prison Chaplain has important things to say to us all .
“ Every time I go through the gates into a prison to celebrate Mass or for a visit , I always think : Why them and not me ? I should be here . I deserve to be here . Their fall could have been mine ” Pope Francis , The Name of God is Mercy
“ It is the favourable time to heal wounds , a time not to be weary of meeting all those who are waiting to see and touch with their hands the signs of the closeness of God , a time to offer everyone the way of forgiveness and reconciliation ” Pope Francis , Proclaiming the Year of Mercy during First Vespers , Divine Mercy Sunday
“ A Christian approach to punishment and prison is not a soft option . Love is not the same as being lenient . But love always looks to the good of the other ” Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales , A Place of Redemption p IX
“ For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God ” Romans 3:23
Pope Francis in the Year of Mercy is asking us to allow the mercy that Christ manifested on the cross to saturate our lives so we can be more effective witnesses to the broken world around us . These graces to be ‘ signs of mercy ’ are made available to us through the Sacraments and Prayer . The Holy Father reminds us that mercy is very practical in its application : “ The mercy of God is not an abstract idea , but a concrete reality through which he reveals his love ”. The Holy Year of Mercy can be seen as a special ‘ time to offer everyone the way of forgiveness and reconciliation .’
One of the ways Pope Francis is urging all Catholics in the Year of Mercy to manifest mercy practically is through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy . The corporal works include , importantly , visiting the imprisoned , and the spiritual works include converting sinners , instructing the ignorant , advising the doubtful and comforting the sorrowful . These are , of course , very relevant to prison ministry as more and
more young people continually become trapped in a cycle of offending , in and out of prison , lacking the spiritual and practical support to be who God wants them to be .
The situation they find themselves in is made worse by the fact that the prison environment in England and Wales is in its worst state for 10 years , with ever increasing violence . Nick Hardwick , the chief prison ’ s inspector , said in his Annual Report 2014 to 2015 , that the envisioned ‘ rehabilitation revolution ’ often spoken about from the government is very far off . ( Source : BBC News - Prisons ‘ in worst state for a decade ’, inspector warns . 14 July 2015 )
For example in a typical week in the prisons in
England and Wales :
• Four to five prisoners die
• One or two self-inflicted deaths
• 500 self-harm incidents
• More than 300 assaults
• 40 serious assaults , often using a blunt instrument or blade as a weapon
• 70 assaults on staff , including nine serious attacks .
( Source : Safety in Custody Statistics from Ministry of Justice quarterly update to December 2014 )
Whilst there seems to be a common consensus in our society that our prisons must punish those who break the law , there appears to be also a growing consensus that prisons should be places of rehabilitation . Yet within an environment of intense violence and selfharm in prison , as well as overcrowding and a lack of purposeful activity for prisoners , it is hard for prisoners to break free from their destructive mind-sets . Bad behaviour in prison is thus often consolidated rather than broken .
From a Christian theological point of view , true rehabilitation is more than just helping free a prisoner from a life of crime . It begins when a prisoner recognises their need for forgiveness , not just for breaking the civil law , but for breaking the laws of God and causing offence to Him alone ( Psalm 51 ). contents page