I come from a fairly functional family. Most of us do. But when we hear that word, do we all hear the same thing? Begin with the basic unit: mom, dad, sister brother. Many of us have never experienced that, but we are taught that it is ideal. The church talks of the Family of God, all of us being the younger siblings by adoption of Jesus, God's first-born. The biologist may think of the taxonomic family, which is next above genus. A sociologist may think of families of cultures, like the Pacific family, the linguist of a family of laguages. A geneticist may think of a group who share a certain hereditary closeness. There is the Family of Man, a concept that was talked about in the 60's. And there is the street family, not quite exactly the same term as "gang." In order to communicate, we have to be clear as to what we mean.
On the 4th, I went to a picnic for Cephas, which I joined a year ago. It felt like family. There were some I knew and admired, some I met for the first time. I liked some right away, but even the ones with whom I disagreed had a connection to me stronger than my disagreement. I felt close to them. We had mutual experience, mutual concerns and common goals. We did NOT have common views and opinions. But there was a positive, forward thinking atmosphere that I enjoyed. We shared a meal, played games, and talked. I came away from that picnic encouraged, warmed and happy.
When I leave the jails and prisons, I sometimes get a similar feeling. The people I meet and talk with want to change, want to take something away from our meeting that will help them find a way to their goals, to be better than they were when they went in. One inmate said, "My change came when I realized that I had been thinking that my life was "on hold" in prison, and that it would start up when I got out. What I realized was that my life continued no matter where I was; that if I didn't change, then I would go right back to the boozing and mayhem that got me here." That positive, forward thinking attitude is, I believe what gives me the feeling of family.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
July 2009 Parish newsletter Article
Newsletter article for 7-09
Have you ever felt like you’re the only one? The only young mother tied to a messy house and noisy kids? The only person at a company doing your best to get the job done? The only dog walker with plastic bags in your pocket? The only person saving for the future instead of spending it all now? The only one in school who is taking studying seriously? Do you remember how great it felt if someone smiled and said they appreciated your work? Sometimes prison ministry can feel like that, too. But Church is the connection, the support system that can make someone feel that they aren’t alone. Just as the missionaries we sent to the Pacific islands and to the Western Territories in the 1800’s needed that contact from home, all of us need that same feeling. Not a feeling of belonging so much as a feeling that others are aware, sympathetic and understanding. That what we do makes a difference, not only to those to whom we are ministering, but those who care. That is loving one another.
So as your summer progresses, as the days fill up with business and pass away, think of the people who are visit the prisons and work with releases and pray for them as much as you pray for those to whom they minister. Britt H, the chair of the Diocesan Prison Ministry committee convened a meeting and at the request of Bishop Singh took a “roll call” of everyone we knew was doing prison ministry. We are sure we missed some. If you know of someone in our diocese who is doing prison ministry but not mentioned, let us know. Here is our list:
Judy S Step by Step Albion State Facility for Women
Dick F RIJM(Rochester Interfaith Jail Ministry (2 groups a week)MCF (Monroe County Facility),Cephas Orleans State
Clare K Storybook Project Geneva
Bob C RIJM (with Dick Frey) MCF, Cephas Groveland State, Cephas Wyoming State
Dick L ACOA(Adult Children of Addiction) MCF
Britt H Cath. Fam. Ctr. CFC building Literacy Volunteers MCF (soon)
Janet F Allegheny County Jail
Gloria L Step by Step Belmont State
Margy M Step by Step (founder/director) ----
Bob S SMART and Judicial Process Commission MCF
Peter P JPC MCFElsa Schaefer RIJM Monroe County Jail (downtown)
Bjorna AA @MCF, Bridging the Gap
These folk all need your care. If you meet them, or have occasion to speak to them, thank them for their ministry. Pray for them by name, as well as for the prisoners.
Have you ever felt like you’re the only one? The only young mother tied to a messy house and noisy kids? The only person at a company doing your best to get the job done? The only dog walker with plastic bags in your pocket? The only person saving for the future instead of spending it all now? The only one in school who is taking studying seriously? Do you remember how great it felt if someone smiled and said they appreciated your work? Sometimes prison ministry can feel like that, too. But Church is the connection, the support system that can make someone feel that they aren’t alone. Just as the missionaries we sent to the Pacific islands and to the Western Territories in the 1800’s needed that contact from home, all of us need that same feeling. Not a feeling of belonging so much as a feeling that others are aware, sympathetic and understanding. That what we do makes a difference, not only to those to whom we are ministering, but those who care. That is loving one another.
So as your summer progresses, as the days fill up with business and pass away, think of the people who are visit the prisons and work with releases and pray for them as much as you pray for those to whom they minister. Britt H, the chair of the Diocesan Prison Ministry committee convened a meeting and at the request of Bishop Singh took a “roll call” of everyone we knew was doing prison ministry. We are sure we missed some. If you know of someone in our diocese who is doing prison ministry but not mentioned, let us know. Here is our list:
Judy S Step by Step Albion State Facility for Women
Dick F RIJM(Rochester Interfaith Jail Ministry (2 groups a week)MCF (Monroe County Facility),Cephas Orleans State
Clare K Storybook Project Geneva
Bob C RIJM (with Dick Frey) MCF, Cephas Groveland State, Cephas Wyoming State
Dick L ACOA(Adult Children of Addiction) MCF
Britt H Cath. Fam. Ctr. CFC building Literacy Volunteers MCF (soon)
Janet F Allegheny County Jail
Gloria L Step by Step Belmont State
Margy M Step by Step (founder/director) ----
Bob S SMART and Judicial Process Commission MCF
Peter P JPC MCFElsa Schaefer RIJM Monroe County Jail (downtown)
Bjorna AA @MCF, Bridging the Gap
These folk all need your care. If you meet them, or have occasion to speak to them, thank them for their ministry. Pray for them by name, as well as for the prisoners.
Monday, May 11, 2009
My article for my parish newsletter
Messenger Article for JUNE 2009
This is the season of Pentecost. We as a community celebrate Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit as a guide and teacher. I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of Spirit and of the Pentecost reading: “…And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement…
The early Church believed that the Holy Spirit spoke most clearly “in Synod.” That is in groups and communities who invited the HS to come and teach, lead and guide them. That is why we read in Acts 15 of the Council of Jerusalem and in Church History about the Council of Nicaea (as in the Nicene Creed). As Christians, we not only live in community, but solve problems in community, invoking the Holy Spirit God has sent us.
Our growing prison population is a symptom of the brokenness of our community. There is an organization in Monroe County which presented a program called “The School to prison pipeline.” They want to break the progress of our children’s hopelessness at the school level. We can argue whether to blame the schools, TV, suburban sprawl, the automobile, any number of things for our isolation and separation, but we can see the results: there are a growing number of young men and women who are unattached to any healthy community or family group. They firmly believe that they have no hope for achieving any kind of future, and so they live only for today, only for themselves. They are truly of the World. When this belief system runs up against our system of laws and justice, they become inmates. When they don’t have the strength to survive, they take refuge in drugs and alcohol, which offer refuge from the reality they live in.
Jesus promised we would be sent the Holy Spirit saying “He will testify… and you (must) testify…” What are we to testify? We can and do through Prison Reentry and Aftercare, that the premise on which the prisoner based his or her belief is wrong: They CAN have hope. Jesus’ Incarnation and Resurrection and Ascension have turned the world upside down. There is a future to achieve, and they have no disadvantage, there is no bar to their receiving it. Jesus did not preach revolution against authority. His sermons went deeper. He preached revolution against hopelessness, against acceptance of the world’s judgement.
At some point in many inmates’ lives, they realize that they have made mistakes and have spent all their energy fighting the consequences. Frequently in a group I will find many of the men I am talking to who say “It seemed like a good idea at the time and no one told me otherwise.” We then talk about finding friends one can trust who have good judgement, and of making decisions ‘in community.’ And we talk about learning to be that kind of friend. Prison ministry takes a member of the Church and puts him or her in position to speak along with the Holy Spirit to these people who have become outsiders and to help them.
But Prison Ministry does not only occur in the prisons. It happens within our neighborhoods and within the walls of our church as well. Our Christian faith must inform our politics. Not partisan politics, but the politics of what we ask our political system to deal with, what we ask our selves, our families, our neighborhoods and our communities to focus on. To combat the prison issues, we must start early: we must not let the World have the biggest say in children’s and youths’ lives. We can visit people who are imprisoned but not incarcerated. The Holy Spirit, if asked, can and will come into our discussions about this issue. Each of us can become a member of prison ministry by bringing up the subject.
This is the season of Pentecost. We as a community celebrate Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit as a guide and teacher. I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of Spirit and of the Pentecost reading: “…And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement…
The early Church believed that the Holy Spirit spoke most clearly “in Synod.” That is in groups and communities who invited the HS to come and teach, lead and guide them. That is why we read in Acts 15 of the Council of Jerusalem and in Church History about the Council of Nicaea (as in the Nicene Creed). As Christians, we not only live in community, but solve problems in community, invoking the Holy Spirit God has sent us.
Our growing prison population is a symptom of the brokenness of our community. There is an organization in Monroe County which presented a program called “The School to prison pipeline.” They want to break the progress of our children’s hopelessness at the school level. We can argue whether to blame the schools, TV, suburban sprawl, the automobile, any number of things for our isolation and separation, but we can see the results: there are a growing number of young men and women who are unattached to any healthy community or family group. They firmly believe that they have no hope for achieving any kind of future, and so they live only for today, only for themselves. They are truly of the World. When this belief system runs up against our system of laws and justice, they become inmates. When they don’t have the strength to survive, they take refuge in drugs and alcohol, which offer refuge from the reality they live in.
Jesus promised we would be sent the Holy Spirit saying “He will testify… and you (must) testify…” What are we to testify? We can and do through Prison Reentry and Aftercare, that the premise on which the prisoner based his or her belief is wrong: They CAN have hope. Jesus’ Incarnation and Resurrection and Ascension have turned the world upside down. There is a future to achieve, and they have no disadvantage, there is no bar to their receiving it. Jesus did not preach revolution against authority. His sermons went deeper. He preached revolution against hopelessness, against acceptance of the world’s judgement.
At some point in many inmates’ lives, they realize that they have made mistakes and have spent all their energy fighting the consequences. Frequently in a group I will find many of the men I am talking to who say “It seemed like a good idea at the time and no one told me otherwise.” We then talk about finding friends one can trust who have good judgement, and of making decisions ‘in community.’ And we talk about learning to be that kind of friend. Prison ministry takes a member of the Church and puts him or her in position to speak along with the Holy Spirit to these people who have become outsiders and to help them.
But Prison Ministry does not only occur in the prisons. It happens within our neighborhoods and within the walls of our church as well. Our Christian faith must inform our politics. Not partisan politics, but the politics of what we ask our political system to deal with, what we ask our selves, our families, our neighborhoods and our communities to focus on. To combat the prison issues, we must start early: we must not let the World have the biggest say in children’s and youths’ lives. We can visit people who are imprisoned but not incarcerated. The Holy Spirit, if asked, can and will come into our discussions about this issue. Each of us can become a member of prison ministry by bringing up the subject.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
5/10
The lectionary for this Sunday is Jesus as the vine, God pruning away the unproductive. What is unproductivity? Must we have children and wealth to be fruitful? Where does that leave the prisoner? The unmarried? Me? Most of us one time or another have felt unfulfilled, unfruitful. How does it feel to be in prison and feel locked out of usefulness? Dear God our Father, we pray for those who feel they have been pruned away. Help them remain part of the family with us. Help them see their connectedness, and help us see that, too. It is your will which does the pruning, not ours. Help us to remember not to judge, not to shun and not to fear. We pray this week for the women visited by Elsa Schafer and Sister Judy, who have been shut away from their homes, their children and their responsibilities and supports. Be with them as they pass their days in their cells. We also offer thanksgiving for the donations we have received of shoes and a great TV for Enriche House.
May 17
How would I feel if my brother were in prison? My father? My daughter? If we are to follow the commandment Jesus gave us, we must try to imagine that circumstance and let our feelings then govern our behavior. How would I feel? I would be embarrassed, ashamed, angry, pitying, and anxious. What would I do? I would visit as often as I could, I would write, and I would plan for the release, and devote time and companionship after the release. If Jesus commands it how can I refuse? “Dear Jesus, you have given us your command to love one another; this is a heavy and ponderous task. Give the strength and grace to obey not once, but continually. We thank you for the opportunity to follow your command in jails and prisons and halfway houses all through our community.”
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Parole Board's Dilemma
I've had time now to think about what the men said at our last meeting. Their comments contained three hard nuts to crack: 1) A lot depends on the in-house parole officer's attitude, skill and effort; the parole workers in the Upstate area are harsher, older and more bureaucratic than Downstate, who are more on the prisoner's side, more active and motivated. The Parole Commissioners take the parole worker's recommendations. 2) An inmate can work the system or work himself, and no one can tell the difference just by looking at a file [And even he doesn't know how well he has changed]. 3) Who is more dangerous, the man who murdered his wife and has served 30 years in prison, attending AA, anger management and violence prevention workshops and has obtained a graduate degree, or the 25 year old gang banger who has led a life of desperate violence and no introspection, but has never been caught and convicted of a felony, or the drunk driver? Whom should the public fear?
My reactions during the discussion were predictable. I wanted to figure out a way to train and motivate the parole office workers in Upstate, to make them more compliant. I wanted to figure out a way to investigate and interview better to ensure that the rehabilitation of the inmate is more reliable, and I wanted to advocate for the men to help the public understand that they should be accepted back into society. That is me all over, Mr. Fixit, the solutions guy. But time is short. I don't have the lifespan ahead to accomplish that, nor the energy. It would take massive effort to reshape Parole, and massive effort to effect Society, if it can be done at all.
So what is one volunteer supposed to do? I can do what the Cephas volunteers started 38 years ago: visit the inmates, offer active intelligent listening, and bring their conditions ouot to the world. I can encourage them to work on their own issues and grow, not to earn release but to be better. I can ask the society I represent and which put them away, to keep them in their minds and hearts. I can advocate as best I can. But like the inmate, I cannot make success my goal. Instead my goal must be that I changed within myself and made witness to the people around me. It is up to others to join me and it is up too the community to change. It is not up to me to impose change. That is hard for Mr. Fixit.
My reactions during the discussion were predictable. I wanted to figure out a way to train and motivate the parole office workers in Upstate, to make them more compliant. I wanted to figure out a way to investigate and interview better to ensure that the rehabilitation of the inmate is more reliable, and I wanted to advocate for the men to help the public understand that they should be accepted back into society. That is me all over, Mr. Fixit, the solutions guy. But time is short. I don't have the lifespan ahead to accomplish that, nor the energy. It would take massive effort to reshape Parole, and massive effort to effect Society, if it can be done at all.
So what is one volunteer supposed to do? I can do what the Cephas volunteers started 38 years ago: visit the inmates, offer active intelligent listening, and bring their conditions ouot to the world. I can encourage them to work on their own issues and grow, not to earn release but to be better. I can ask the society I represent and which put them away, to keep them in their minds and hearts. I can advocate as best I can. But like the inmate, I cannot make success my goal. Instead my goal must be that I changed within myself and made witness to the people around me. It is up to others to join me and it is up too the community to change. It is not up to me to impose change. That is hard for Mr. Fixit.
Monday, March 30, 2009
What do you want?
If I were to ask an inmate what he wants, the first answer would be obvious. When Joe was talking to Commissioner Alexander, he said, "It's wonderful that you are focused on reducing the time some folks spend on parole. But I don't want to get off parole. I want to get ON it!"
But many of the men in State prison have the time and the inclination to think deeper than that. Joe holds an MA in Theology. He has said in other conversations that he wants to have a breather when he gets out. He wants to spend time in the woods, or on a farm with no one around him and no schedules or tasks. After that, he wants to contribute to Cephas' ministry however his talents can fit. These are simple, reasonable and do-able wants. The only disconnect between them and the real world is that he isn't gong to get out on parole any time soon.
Even though recidivism by prisoners released after 20+ years is lowest of all the groups studied (I don't have the statistical reference) Joe is not going to get out. Talking with the men, I can feel the awful contradiction under which they live. They see men who are violent and will injure society when released sentenced to only a few years, and even if they don't adjust well to prison, even if they remain violent in prison, after their term is ended, they leave. Meanwhile, there are men who are imprisoned for crimes they committed as youths, and would never commit again, men for whom the penitentiary system has actually worked. But the parole system will not release them. These are men who have served more than their minimum term, who are penitent, and who have been reformed. But the system can't be sure, and there is a barrier they live behind: once a judge uses the phrase "..to life" the convict may indeed never "earn" release.
In this Lenten season, I shudder that there are people who live under that same fear, that same oppression. What does it do to your soul to think that you may live your whole life clean, sober and pure and then lose it all with one sin? There are those in all three of the major patriarchal religions who believe this, who live in this fear. They talk about Heaven, but they live on the edge of Hell. How can I testify to the reverse? I don't preach in the prisons. That is not my purpose. But my presence there, like Christ's presence on Earth, is testimony to God's love for all his creatures.The Psalmist cried , "I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance; when they see me in the street they avoid me. I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am as useless as a broken pot.” God's response was the Incarnation, a concrete assurance of uninterrupted love and forgiveness.
But many of the men in State prison have the time and the inclination to think deeper than that. Joe holds an MA in Theology. He has said in other conversations that he wants to have a breather when he gets out. He wants to spend time in the woods, or on a farm with no one around him and no schedules or tasks. After that, he wants to contribute to Cephas' ministry however his talents can fit. These are simple, reasonable and do-able wants. The only disconnect between them and the real world is that he isn't gong to get out on parole any time soon.
Even though recidivism by prisoners released after 20+ years is lowest of all the groups studied (I don't have the statistical reference) Joe is not going to get out. Talking with the men, I can feel the awful contradiction under which they live. They see men who are violent and will injure society when released sentenced to only a few years, and even if they don't adjust well to prison, even if they remain violent in prison, after their term is ended, they leave. Meanwhile, there are men who are imprisoned for crimes they committed as youths, and would never commit again, men for whom the penitentiary system has actually worked. But the parole system will not release them. These are men who have served more than their minimum term, who are penitent, and who have been reformed. But the system can't be sure, and there is a barrier they live behind: once a judge uses the phrase "..to life" the convict may indeed never "earn" release.
In this Lenten season, I shudder that there are people who live under that same fear, that same oppression. What does it do to your soul to think that you may live your whole life clean, sober and pure and then lose it all with one sin? There are those in all three of the major patriarchal religions who believe this, who live in this fear. They talk about Heaven, but they live on the edge of Hell. How can I testify to the reverse? I don't preach in the prisons. That is not my purpose. But my presence there, like Christ's presence on Earth, is testimony to God's love for all his creatures.The Psalmist cried , "I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance; when they see me in the street they avoid me. I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am as useless as a broken pot.” God's response was the Incarnation, a concrete assurance of uninterrupted love and forgiveness.
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