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The Southern Cross, Page 8 Faith Aliy& i Thursday, August 31, 2000 The underpinnings of the jubilee day in prisons By Mary Ann Wyand Catholic News Service p JL rison ministry requires people to look beyond the prisoner’s crime and see the person created in God’s image and likeness. That isn’t easy, but God calls people to do it anyway, said Fa ther Lawrence Voelker, pastor of Holy Cross Parish in India napolis, Ind. Pope John Paul II asked Catholics to respond to Christ’s call to help the imprisoned — “I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:36) — and July 9 was designated as the Jubilee Day in Prisons. This day is a reminder of the need to take the word of God and Christ’s healing love to people incarcerated inside the razor-wire fences and multiple locked doors of high-security correctional facilities. The Indiana Women’s Prison is located within the Holy Cross Parish boundaries, and Father Voelker also serves as Catholic chaplain there. A few years ago he read a newspaper story about a woman who committed a vio lent crime. As he thought about her actions, he felt shock and anger, and won dered how she could have done such a terrible thing. Some time later, while talk ing with women at the prison about God’s love and forgive ness, a prisoner asked him if he really believes in forgiveness. “I try to,” he told her. Then he realized he was talking to the woman whose crime had shocked him. Therein lies the paradox of prison ministry: Hate the sin but love the sinner. “I never ask a prisoner about her crime,” he said. “If she wants to tell me about it, I listen. But I never ask.” Prison ministry is bittersweet, Holy Cross pastoral associate Linda Hirsch of Indianapolis explained. A prisoner’s loss of freedom, family, friends and other priceless aspects of life are cause for grief as well as con version, she said. During an interfaith Bible study session, Hirsch said, a prisoner talked about missing simple plea sures like holding a seashell or pet ting a dog. She hadn’t touched an animal in 22 years. Concerned about the woman’s grief, Hirsch got permission to bring seashells to a Bible study and obtained permits for volunteers who train Ca nine Companions for Independence to visit the prison with their dogs. “I think the Holy Spirit whispers in prisons,” Hirsch said. “It is apparent in the caring and creativity of the staff of the Indiana Women’s Prison and in the service of the volunteers. But mostly, God moves in the hearts of the prisoners, and if you listen you can Wisdom in their words.” Twice a month, Providence Sister Denise Wilkinson of St. Mary- of-the-Woods, Ind., visits a man incar cerated in the secure housing unit at the Carlisle, Ind., correctional facility. “When we visit, we’re separated by glass,” she said. “We have devel oped a friendship of sorts. I try to listen and not judge. The circum stances that life handed him as a child were pretty defeating. He told me the only people who care about him are another Providence sister and myself. I felt sad because all I do is visit him every other week and write in between.” Before her first visit, she said, she “thought prison was about reha bilitation. But it isn’t. It’s about in carceration and punishment. Words like ‘freedom,’ ‘forgiveness’ and FOODFORTHOUGHT Crime introduces unwelcome loss and pain into victims’ lives. How, then, should they react to men and women convicted of crimes, including those sentenced to death? The U.S. Catholic Conference Administrative Board reflected on questions like that in an April 1999 statement on the death penalty. The bishops recognized the plight of crime victims and their families. “Our family of faith must stand with them as they struggle to overcome their terrible loss and find some sense of peace, ” the bishops said, and encouraged compassionate responses to “the terrible pain and anger” those affected experience. The bishops said they were “challenged by the evolution in Catholic teaching” on the death penalty and hoped those supporting it would “come to see, as we have, that more violence is not the answer.” Why oppose capital punishment? Because, the bishops said, it perpetuates “a cycle of violence and [promotes] a sense of vengeance”; it definitively denies criminals the chance to reform; its increased use “is a sign of growing disrespect for human life. ” The bishops said: “The death penalty offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life.” t9 David Gibson, Editor, Faith Alive! CNS photo of woman petting dog at party for prisoners at Indiana Women’s Prison by Linda Hirsch All contents copyright©2000 by CNS ‘power’ have new meanings for me. Every other week I am made to think about that again, but prayer and conversations with sisters give me support and insight. Prison min istry is one of the most sure ways to transformation and conversion.” ■ ■ ■ St. Paul the Apostle parishioner Teresa Batto of Greencastle, Ind., vol unteers at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., as a member of the Prisoner Visitation and Support Group, a national secular organiza tion. Batto also volunteers as an assis tant chaplain at the Putnamville, Ind., correctional facility, where she A prisoner talked about missing simple pleasures like holding a sea shell or petting a dog.... Hirsch got permission to bring sea- shells to a Bible study and obtained permits for ... Canine Companions... to visit the prison.... Parishes could become much more involved in prison ministry.” coordinates a weekly interfaith Bible study group and a Communion ser vice for Catholics. “This ministry is so dear to me,” she said. “We read Scripture and dis cuss it.” Batto said she isn’t afraid to volun teer in prisons because the men treat her with respect and enjoy talking about God. “I see the Holy Spirit working,” she said. “So many transformations hap pen in this group. These men know they have to change their lives and turn toward God. However, prisoners who find God need prayers and sup port after parole too. Parishes could become much more involved in prison ministry.” Providence Sister Rita Clare Gerardot of St. Mary-of-the-Woods vis its a death-row inmate at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute twice a month. “When I look in his eyes, I see a man who is fully alive,” she said. “It is life-giving for me to visit him because he has turned his life around. “He prays, and has experienced a conversion. He is truly sorry for the evil deeds he did in the past. He ad mits to them, knows they were wrong and takes responsibility for his ac tions. He said it is God’s place to judge. And he knows that, even if his sentence is commuted, he will still die in prison.” (Wyand is an assistant editor for The Criterion, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.)