Prison Ministry

Prayer

For those of us whose apostolate is within the world, the prayerful power and contemplative intercessions of the religious has our back, for they are a mighty arm of the Church and their prayer is one of the sharpest swords of the Word, now as it was centuries ago, when St. Teresa of Avila wrote these words: "I think we should act as people do when, in time of war, the enemy has overrun the country and the king finds himself hard pressed. He retires into a strongly fortified town from whence he sometimes makes a sortie. The small company with him in the citadel, being picked men, are better than a large army of cowardly soldiers; thus they often come off victors, they are not vanquished for there is no traitor in their ranks and famine alone can conquer them. No famine can force us to surrender--it may kill us--it cannot vanquish us! But why have I told you this? To teach you, my sisters, that we must ask God to grant that, of all the good Christians in this fort, none may desert to the enemy, that no traitor may be found here, and that the captains of this castle, or city--that is, the preachers and theologians--may be proficient in the way of our Lord. Since most of these are religious, you must pray that they may advance in perfection and may follow their vocation more perfectly. This is very necessary, for, as I said, it is the arm of the Church and not of the State which much defend us now. We, being women, can fight for our King in neither way: Let us, then, strive so to live that our prayers may avail to help these servants of God who have laboured hard to arm themselves with learning and virtue with which to help their Sovereign." The Way of Perfection, [1565]. (1997). Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers. (pp. 16-17)

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The Church

760 Christians of the first centuries said, "The world was created for the sake of the Church." God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life, a communion brought about by the "convocation" of men in Christ, and this "convocation" is the Church. The Church is the goal of all things, and God permitted such painful upheavals as the angels' fall and man's sin only as occasions and means for displaying all the power of his arm and the whole measure of the love he wanted to give the world.

Just as God's will is creation and is called "the world," so his intention is the salvation of men, and is called "the Church." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #760)

Prison Ministry

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Much of the evil in the world is deeply ensconced within the prisons of the world, and our calling as Catholics is to confront that evil: "There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil." (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 309, italics in original)

The prison first enters Western consciousness through Genesis and the story of Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery, and ultimately becoming a prisoner after falsely being accused of insulting his master's wife: "And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison." (Genesis 39:20)

Peters (1995) places the great prison in time and place: "Joseph's prison was the "Great Prison," the hnrt wr at Thebes, present-day Luxor, whose existence is unrecorded before the period of the Middle Kingdom." (p. 9)

Even here, in this proto-prison, God comforts the prisoner: "But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love.." (Genesis 39:21)

Visiting those in prison is given us as a work of corporal mercy by Christ, when he taught us: "I was in prison and you came to me." (Matthew 25:36)

The prison as it has developed in the Western world comes from the Catholic Church, as Skotnicki (2008) notes: "My own conclusion is that the prison as we know it in the West originated in the penitential practice of the early church and in primitive monastic communities. With some reservation, I argue that it thus bears a meaning as valid and necessary as penance and monasticism themselves. Perhaps a more restrained way of phrasing it would be that since the contemporary prison is in many ways a Catholic innovation, whatever hope it may have as a locus and vehicle of criminal justice lies within the history we are about to survey." (p. 6)

The Catechism on the works of mercy: "The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead." (#2447)

With these four elements in mind: the prison as an ancient institution, prison visits as a work of mercy, the prison in the modern West as Catholic inspired, and works of mercy as how we aid one another; the prison ministry Lampstand is embarking upon is a spiritual work of mercy directed to prisoners in maximum security prisons, for the purpose of evangelization through exposure to the social teaching of the Church, and the development of transformative criminal/carceral leadership to help other criminals.

The ministry began with a paper, The Prison Ministry (published in the Catholic journal, Social Justice Review, Vol. 101, No. 11-12, November-December 2010, pp.172-175) forming the core of the 2011 policy primer, The Prison Ministry: A Lampstand Policy Primer, (published for Lampstand members March 25, 2011) continued with work on helping relieve the vacancy rate of prison Catholic Chaplains, whose presence in prisons is vital for any organized lay-directed prison ministry to become successful.

An open letter addressing this was sent August 10, 2010, which closed with these two paragraphs: "However, the importance of this ministry to the Church, which alone has the power of a social teaching which can trump that of the criminal/carceral world cultural narrative shaping and driving many criminal's allegiance to that world, cannot be stated emphatically enough.

"At perhaps the most crucial points in Our Lord's ministry on earth, his crucifixion and resurrection, penitential criminals played major roles--St. Mary of Magdalene and St. Dismas--and it is to those penitential criminal saints, in their names, and in the name of Our Lord who showed us the way, that we need to do all we can to ensure prisoners have access to a priest."

The letter can be read on our blog at http://catholiceye.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/catholic-prison-catholic-chaplain-vacancies/

The next step was the publication--for members only--of the annual policy primer on prison ministry on the feast day of St. Dismas, March 25, 2011, and that was followed by the publication of the book in December 2011: The Lampstand Prison Ministry: Constructed on Catholic Social Teaching & the History of the Catholic Church.

Fr. Euteneuer (2010), a former prison minister, reminds us of the importance of this work: "Ultimately, these environments, full of criminals, are also seedbeds for the works of the Evil One and therefore are in dire need of Christian ministry. The idea that a person goes to prison to become "reformed" is an absurdity. Oftentimes they become confirmed in their criminal ways. I would ask...anyone in prison ministry, to be of good cheer, fully confident that your work is blessed by God because it is a work that Christ explicitly asked His Church to carry out. If the "official" Church does not pay proper attention to this work of the Gospel, then those in authority will be held accountable before the Judgment Seat of God. Ours, however, is not to agonize over what others are not doing, but to do what we are supposed to do with greater fervor, asking God to sanctify us in the process." (np)

Finally, it is crucial to remember that the criminal--not society, capitalism, or the criminal justice system--is the problem.

Some Catholics who are attracted to prison ministry believe, due to the myths of Hollywood or Marxism, that the good guys are the criminals; and the police, district attorneys, prison guards, and legislators who support stringent sanctions, are the bad guys.

This false belief does everyone a disservice--in particular the penitential criminal--who may find little reason for proper expiation within a culture defining criminality as somehow admirable.

Professional criminals understand that their criminality is only admirable in the context of the criminal/carceral world culture--and the aforementioned glamorized--and if the ministry does not understand this, it will have little real resonance.

Also remember that regardless of the moral evil done by some Catholic bishops, priests, and laity--which will be thrown back at you during your ministry--the work of the Church on earth is magnificently good, strong, and true.

It will be your deep understanding of this history and the underlying social teaching, strengthened by your personal relationship with God, that will eventually prove most valuable in your spiritual work of mercy with prisoners.

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References

Euteneuer, T.J. (2010, May) Euteneuer Replies in Letter to Editor, New Oxford Review, May 2010, Retrieved June 10, 2010 from http://www.newoxfordreview.org/letters.jsp?did=0510-letters

Peters, E.M. (1995). "Prison before the prison: The ancient and medieval world". In Morris, N. & Rothman, D.J. (Eds.). The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society. New York: Oxford University Press.

Skotnicki, A, (2008). Criminal Justice and the Catholic Church. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

The Lampstand Foundation