Prison Ministry

INTENTION:

This doctoral thesis seeks to examine many issues surrounding rehabilitation, reintegration and/or recidivism regarding offenders. Offenders issues will be considered from both a state and church perspective. While there is in the United States of America both in its constitution and popular consciousness a separation between state and church, there are many areas where for the good of the society, a mutual concern or cooperation is necessary because of the complexity of the issue. Indeed, the issue of offenders is a challenge for both state and church. My thesis will explore dealing with offenders in three specific dimensions:

1). The Church Family. In what way(s) can the church, Christ’s Body, be a positive part of an offender’s life? How can the teachings, traditions, disciplines and religious customs be integrated in the particular circumstances of an offender?

2). Education. What can both church and state contribute toward the formation and re-formation of offenders? How can there be cooperation between what the state can offer and what the church can offer?

3). Society’s Expectations. How can we in this society better address the mounting problems caused by increase in crime, lack of funding for either incarceration or rehabilitation models? How could current problems be addressed by a more integrated, i.e., church and state cooperation, approach?

At the heart of my passion for doing jail/prison ministry is my desire to embrace as fully as I can the “Missio Dei” (GOD’s Mission) --- I embrace this calling with the experiences of my forty-seven years of life and the more recent gift of serving given to me in the call to be an ordained priest. The baptized and ordained pilgrim who writes these words is more and more aware how much our lives are unfolding in the Mystery of GOD. We live in GOD’s plan, no matter how much we think we can depend on our skills or knowledge. I need to have a joyful heart, not letting the burdens of my life or others’ crush my spirit (Pr.17:22). I need to be ever conscious that I need to give my mind, body, soul and spirit proper respect even as I hope to help offenders do the same. I cannot ask others to do what I am not willing to do myself. I am hopeful that this doctoral thesis will help me keep a joyful heart knowing all the while that it is up to the Holy Spirit to lead us all in ministry.

Not only does the Holy Spirit lead us deeper into ministry---the Spirit leads us deeper into the very Mystery of God. I seek to serve as a priest and missionary in a way that is not empty-headed and ill-informed because good intentions alone will not advance GOD’s Kingdom. If I can be an agent of change and growth under the Spirit, I will do so only if I am grounded in sound biblical and traditional pastoral caring for myself and others both inside and outside of the church. A physician takes an oath that has at its heart “Do No Harm!” I would hope that in the process of doing my doctoral theses, I will learn more / more about myself & about the complexities of offenders in our society and church so that I will run less risk of doing harm even while intending to do good.

DEFINITIONS:

For purposes of this thesis, an “offender” is a person who has violated or transgressed a moral (Church) or civil (State) law. I realize that often what is moral and legal intersect; I also realize that at times what is immoral is not illegal and vice-versa.

“Church” refers to any community of believers who recognize in themselves a unity and sharing that encourages the fellowship of both suffering and rejoicing under the headship of Christ Jesus.

“State” refers to the body politic as organized for civil rule and government at many levels of jurisdiction.

There is a growing need in our present society for interaction if not interdependence between church and state. Services once gladly and generously dispensed by the state are increasingly in short order---and the churches, chief among the voluntary and non-profit pools or resources, are more and more asked to stand in the gap, to take over concerns that (while originally in the care of the church) have been for several generations primarily a state matter. One need look no farther than the institution of hospitals in this regard. Hospitals more often than not began as religious institutions; government has more and more engaged in the monitoring and distribution of health care; and given current resources and trends, it’s obvious that churches will become more involved in healthcare concerns as government resources (if not imagination) diminish.

The situations even more alarming within the criminal justice system, now overtaxed at all levels with no particular end in sight. There are signs that society is approaching some kind of breakpoint, and it is my contention that the churches are a primary way in which a number of offender issues can be more creatively and successfully handled. The churches, after all, are already committed to ongoing outreach ministries, providing of a broad range of human services for the common weal, the public benefit. My strong conviction is that the church can and perhaps must step more boldly into the criminal justice area.

THE VISION:

Undoubtedly, the entire State of California mirrors the full range of our society’s situation: rich and poor, old and young, rural and urban. Southern California, as well as Los Angeles County reflects the myriad of levels of the criminal justice system with its different jurisdictions and generally a conservative mindset with regard to crime and punishment. I would hope that in the process of completing this thesis, I can help engage the imagination of many sectors of the community so that cooperation between church and state can be a challenge seized on behalf of offenders so that they can more readily become productive rather than problem citizens. I propose that the benefits of mutual cooperation can be realized in these immediate areas:

1. Integrated religious, health, educational and social services to offenders---bringing as much as possible the specialties of these provides to bear on offenders in a way maximizes impact and minimizes loss of time, energy and monies.
2. Placement in the job force, thus helping stabilize the job market and unemployment. Also, placement in the church community inspires identity and self-motivation.
3. Educational formation which will increase productivity in society and a more mature place in Christ’s body.

THE OUTLINE:

I can now describe the outline of my thesis and what in each of the five sections I propose to accomplish.

SECTION I: explores the root meanings and terminologies of such words as: offender, church, state, jail, prison, rehabilitation, recidivism, incarceration, judicial system, social and law enforcement agencies (i.e., family & individual counseling; outreach prison ministries; and halfway houses & treatment centers), pre-release, probation, parole, volunteer, and chaplaincy.

SECTION II: proposes to illustrate some theological presuppositions underlying church as the “Body of Christ” and the significant role it plays in outreach prison ministry. To ask: How are offenders a problem for the church? Should offenders be handled solely by the state? What is fellowship and its purposes, its missions? And what about the problem the church has being who she is? Is the holiness of the individual and the community intimately linked?

SECTION III: focuses on the education of both the offender and society. Education is so vital to society because it is a: “continuous development of individuals toward full and unique potential through their lifespan, and the continuous renewal of the larger social systems of which they are a part through constructive interaction with them” (Knowles). Expanding on Knowles concept, how does this apply to offenders?

SECTION IV: gets to the heart of society’s role in the church/state mandate for alternative rehabilitation methods. A need in: How can the state reach out to non-governmental agencies and church communities?

SECTION V: envisions the possibilities of the government/state eliminating bureaucratic red-tape and procrastination, which enables church and state to play an intricate part together, by simply interacting together while remaining two distinctive identities. In other words, an Orthodox perspective and viewpoint of church is that it is not wholly excluded from the secular realm, as is clear from the very notion or fact of the church having an office as watchman. But there is here no theocratic involvement. Therefore, if the church stands in a continuing relationship to the secular sphere, this is simply because church and state are not only separated, but also interconnected, which is my point precisely of having a church/state mutual and amicable agreement of understanding as it pertains to “Outreach Prison Ministry.”

A PARTIAL LIST OF RESOURCES:

Books:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Letters and Papers from Prison. SCM Press Ltd., 1953.

Colson, Charles W. The Body: Being Light In Darkness. Word Publishers, 1992.

Lindenfeld, Frank Radical Perspectives On Social Problems. General Hall, Inc., 1986.

Ryan, William Blaming The Victim. Vantage Books, 1971.

Journals:

Gaylin, W.M. “Prisoners of Principle,” Christianity & Crisis, Dec.22, 1969, pp.325-28.

Harsh, Robert “Inside Attica,” Christianity and Crisis, May 29, 1972, pp.127-138.

Other Sources: 

Rev. Dr. Walter Lowry, Pickaway Correctional Institution, Orient, Ohio.