The
Church increasing looks to the laity to provide the first line
of Catholic ministry to inmates and detainees in our
prisons and jails. This video was made to encourage and
affirm those in the laity who believe they are called to serve
incarcerated men, women and children.
Our
original goal for this video was to inspire ordinary faithful
Catholics to consider volunteering to minister to the
incarcerated in their community. The project grew as we
surveyed the whole range of ministry to the incarcerated.
We soon realized that in order to complete the circle of
ministry to those in prisons and jails we need to speak to the
need for mentoring those same individuals after their release.
Beyond that, we also felt it was important to raise awareness,
if only briefly, of the judicial concept of "Restorative
Justice."
My
prayerful hope is that through this video you will see, with the
yes of faith and discernment, people like yourself responding to
their baptismal call to serve in the Church. The
volunteers you will meet in this video have responded to their
call by serving those incarcerated in prisons and jails.
You will also meet volunteers who minister to those recently
released form prison.
This
video was made to accompany a parish-based "live" training
session which is critical to preparing the volunteers for
ministry in local correctional facilities. This video,
however, can be used alternatively as a motivational tool to
raise awareness and encourage further inquiry by potential
volunteers.
In this
video you will see and hear the personal testimonies of
individual volunteers
and ex-offenders. Their stories are
as unique as they are as individuals. And yet throughout
the presentation you will observe a brilliant thread of faith
running through each of their narratives, weaving together, as
it were, all of their stories into one great "Hosanna" in
response to our Lord's call.
Blessings on all of you who view this video and respond to our
Lord's invitation (Matthew 25:35) to visit and serve those
separated by incarceration from the praying community.