January 25, 2001 - Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Detention Ministry in the Diocese of Fresno

Bishop John T. Steinbock

"I WAS IN PRISON AND YOU VISITED ME." These words of our Lord Jesus from the 25th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel are addressed to us, priests, religious and laity alike, especially in our Diocese of Fresno. We have some 50 detention facilities in our Diocese.

The inmates of these facilities are the most forgotten of our society. The men, women, and teenagers need to hear the good news of Christ, to know the presence of Christ and of the Church in their lives. With this letter I hope to bring to the attention of everyone, the presence of thousands upon thousands of our brothers and sisters in the Lord who are hidden in our midst in these detention facilities, and who are in great need to know God's love and presence.

Priests, Religious and Laity Are All Called to Serve Christ in the Imprisoned

I want to encourage priests of the Diocese to reach out to these most often forgotten souls in their parishes, with a sense of responsibility to love and to serve them, especially with the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I want to encourage Men and Women Religious in our Diocese to reflect to make this a personal apostolate to visit Jesus in the prisons, on their own time. I ask lay people to reflect on the possibility that God may be calling them to volunteer their time to visit Jesus in the prisons that are near their parishes. Through our Diocesan Detention Ministry Office, we can put all of you in contact with the proper authorities, and give the training and support needed for this ministry.

Thank You to Those who are Already Serving

We have 11 full time chaplains in our Diocese, serving mainly in State prisons. We have a good number of volunteers helping in several detention facilities. I want to thank them very much for their sacrifice and their dedication. I want to thank the many priests who already help in different detention facilities both in their own parishes and in other places throughout the Diocese. Those involved in detention ministry, priests, religious and laity, can tell of the joy and the many graces received from this ministry.

Many facilities have no chaplain at all and many facilities never have anyone visiting who is associated with the Church. Even those State prisons that have Religious and Deacons as Chaplains are in great need of sacramental ministry by our priests. I strongly encourage priests to visit those prisons in their parishes on a regular basis, just once a month would make a tremendous difference in the lives of inmates. This visit does not have to be on a Sunday. It could be on any day of the week agreeable to the chaplain or warden. Most wardens understand the value of pastoral contact with inmates.

We Visit and Serve Jesus When We Visit and Serve the Imprisoned

We live in a society where people are simply thrown into prison and forgotten. They need to be treated with respect, as human beings, and to know that God loves them. Those imprisoned will know of this love only if those who follow Christ hear those words of the Gospel and discern that Jesus calls them to serve him in the imprisoned. Jesus was imprisoned himself when he was on this earth. Jesus continues to be imprisoned in our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Jesus calls out to us to visit him and love him in these most forgotten men and women in our society. Jesus is still found today throughout our Diocese in our many detention facilities.

The Dignity, Value and Worth of Each Individual

The Bishops of the United States in their November 2000 document "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: a Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice," declare: "The fundamental starting point for all of Catholic social teaching is the defense of human life and dignity: all people, regardless of race, gender, class, or other human characteristics, have an inviolable dignity, value and worth. Therefore, both the most wounded victim and the most hardened criminal retain their humanity, are created in the image of God and possess a dignity, value and worth which must be recognized, promoted, safeguarded and defended."

One of the first things anyone involved in prison ministry discovers, is that the percentage of hardened criminals is very low. Most of those in our prisons are indistinguishable from our relatives and friends. They have families as we all have families. They miss their loved ones as we would miss our loved ones. They are simply normal people, most of who have made a mistake in their lives, and most of who are truly repentant in their lives and long for the day they can be reunited with their families. They yearn to be recognized as human beings and to be loved, as is common to us all.

Our Holy Father had a special message for the Jubilee Year for prisoners, calling for improved prison conditions that treat prisoners with respect that uplift and do not degrade. He also spoke about Christ the Good Shepherd going in search for the lost sheep, especially those found in prisons. We can be Christ the Good Shepherd to the men and women in our prisons.

God Bless the Many Catholics Who Work in Our Prisons

I give thanks to God for the many Catholics who serve in our prisons as correctional officers and as staff. May God bless you and your families. May you always look to prayer and the Eucharist to help you treat with respect and dignity those whom you must deal with everyday in your work. Do not let the hardened criminal harden your hearts to the general populace who are struggling like you to preserve their dignity and humanity in very difficult circumstances.

PUT OUR BELIEF INTO ACTION: PRACTICAL ACTION ITEMS THOUGHTS FOR OUR PRIESTS

  1. I encourage every priest to determine exactly what detention facilities are in his parish, remember that those souls are entrusted to his care, and find a way to minister to them.

  1. I encourage priests to look for volunteers in their parish to become involved in prison ministry and to include articles in the parish bulletin to bring awareness to the people of the spiritual need of the imprisoned in their parishes.

  1. I encourage the inclusion of petitions for the imprisoned, for their families, for the correctional officers and staff in the Sunday General Intercessions. Make an effort to help our faithful see the imprisoned as human beings who need our support and prayers.

  1. I encourage Deans to make this an agenda item for deanery meetings, finding out what facilities are in the deanery and discussing with the priests how they might serve those in prison in their area.

  1. If you have a full time chaplain ministering in a prison in your parish, be interested in his or her work. See the chaplain as a collaborator who helps you with the souls entrusted to your care as pastor. Look for ways to assist the work of the chaplain.

THOUGHTS FOR OUR PARISH COMMUNITIES

  1. I encourage all our people to reflect on the possibility that God may be calling them to volunteer their time to visit Christ in their brothers and sisters in detention facilities near their parishes. Speak to people who may already be involved in this ministry to learn a little more about it and about the joys and rewards of such a ministry.

  1. On the parish level, efforts should be made to support victims of crime and their families. This could be a great ministry in itself. This could include support for the families of offenders who so often are also victims, especially when children are involved.

  1. Effort should be made also on the parish level to support prisoners when they are released. We all know how difficult it is to re-enter society. The parish family must be ready to receive them and help them during this time of transition.

  1. Parish Councils could speak about the possibility of beginning such a ministry, both to the imprisoned and to those affected by crime in their parishes. The pastor could invite someone involved in detention ministry to speak to the parish council or to the parish at large. This could be arranged through our Diocesan Detention Ministry Office.

  1. Pray for the imprisoned and their families, pray for victims and their families, pray for correctional officers and their families, pray for our police and their families, pray for our probation officers, for everyone in the criminal justice system. Pray that all seek God's will in fulfilling their responsibilities and that we find ways of dealing with the great problem of crime in our society. Pray in your own personal lives, pray in your families, and pray as a parish community for these intentions.

THOUGHTS FOR ALL OF GOD'S PEOPLE

  1. Avoid stereotyping and condemning those in prison, which is so easy to do in our society today. Many are in prison simply because they did not have good legal representation. Many are in prison because of an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Prisons are used to solve the drug problem in our country and it will never be solved in this way. The vast majority is not in prison because of violent crimes. In some of our Federal prisons, there are people who have never been charged or convicted of any moral crime, but simply are being detained.

  1. Avoid being led astray by politicians who seek popularity by speaking as if those in our prisons and those convicted of crimes are not deserving of our compassion and love. Rather than being led astray in building more and bigger prisons and imposing longer sentences, let us move our policy makers to put more time and resources into substance abuse programs and into what contributes to crime, such as poverty, lack of employment, lack of good education, drug and alcohol addiction, the breakdown of the family and the culture of violence in our society.

  1. We live in a society where the majority believes in the death penalty. We are a violent society. Our Church, our Holy Father himself, has spoken time and time again that we live in a culture of death, where people look to violence and death as a solution to our problems. Sad to say, this is so true in our own beloved Nation. This is seen with abortion, euthanasia, suicide, as well as with the death penalty. Our Holy Father speaks out strongly that the death penalty reinforces this culture of death. God is the author of life and the Lord of life. The death penalty is no longer needed to protect society from those who would continue to be a menace to society. A life sentence without possibility for parole would speak to our society of respect for life. The motive of revenge cannot lead us if we are going to be true to Christ's teaching of love and the value and dignity of each and every individual.

WE ARE CALLED TO WITNESS TO GOD'S TOTAL, EMBRACING LOVE

May we seek to witness to everyone, especially the most forgotten, and often most despised in our society, that our God is a God of love, a God who loves us all, that our Savior died on that cross to bring his merciful, forgiving love, especially to those most in need of his mercy and love. This means you and me, as well as those in our prisons.

In Christ, our Lord,
 


Most Rev. John T. Steinbock

Bishop, Diocese of Fresno

Office of Detention Ministry, 1550 N. Fresno St., Fresno, CA  93703-3788

Ph: (559) 493-2851    www.dioceseoffresno.org