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“One of the most common questions I get is: ‘How hard was it to get through prison?’  It was not very hard; but the hardest thing for me was being homeless. When all your friends are gone, your families are not around and all you have is drug addiction, a needle that goes in your arm, drugs that take away your feeling that you’ve been running for years, that was hard. Feeling hopeless was hard; full of guilt, full of shame, depressed to the point of committing suicide was hard,” says the hero of our article Tony Hoffman, journeyed from Prison to Olympics, from drug-addict to a professional speaker.

Tony’s BMX (Bicycle Motocross, a special bike meant for racing and tricky riding) career started in high school, as he was a top-ranked BMX amateur with multiple endorsements. As a native of Clovis, California, where he attended Clovis High School, Tony started drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and using prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin. His life took a turn for the worse as he became addicted at such a young age, losing everything.

An Unforgettable Night

This is Tony’s most vivid memory and he would never forget this moment. He walked into Nate’s (Tony’s friend, who died that same night due to a drugs overdose) room and said that he needed a sleeping bag and he will sleep on the street that night. For the next six months he slept on the street. He slept behind dumpsters, so people couldn’t find him. He slept in dirt fields, so people couldn’t find him. He was never ashamed of himself.

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Sr Lini Sheeja MSC

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Background

Canon 1280 requires that every juridic person should have its own finance council, or at least two counsellors, who are to assist in the performance of the administrator’s duties, in accordance with the statutes. The following guidelines are provided to assist administrators at various levels.

Role of the Finance Council

It is the competence of the head of the Organization to administer the goods and represent the Organization in all legal matters and not that of the Finance Council itself. The Finance Council does not have the task of administering the finance, but it only collaborates with the concerned Organization in the administrative management of its finances in accordance with the law. Thus, the Finance Council shall not be considered the legal owner of Organization’s assets.

But the Finance Council is meant to assist the Organization in the administration of its financial resources. An active, well-formed Finance Council is a key element for promoting the financial health of the Organization, assuring accountability, and assisting the Organization with its temporal responsibilities.

Canon 537 makes the Parish Finance Council a mandated body having an advisory and consultative role with the pastor:

“Each parish is to have a finance council which is regulated by universal law as well as by norms issued by the diocesan bishop; in this council the Christian faithful, selected according to the same norms, aid the pastor in the administration of parish goods with due regard for the prescription of canon 532.”

Applying the same principle, every Catholic Organization is required to have its Finance Council, both by adherence to the Code of Canon Law and by local norms issued by every diocese or religious congregation.

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Fr Alex G., SJ

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“I am tired of listening to corrections.  I’ve been working in the office for so long – preparing projects, writing reports, doing the accounts.  So far, I have never heard a positive word from sister.  She speaks only to correct and that too with a sour face.  When I am hearing only negative remarks, from where will I get the energy and enthusiasm to do my best?  If she cannot find anything else that I do well, she could at least tell me that after mopping the floor I wash the mopping cloth well.  At least that would be an encouragement.”  This is what I heard from a qualified and highly competent lady working in the office in one of the Christian institutions.

As part of the ministry of leading a community, the superior may have to give corrections occasionally.  Let us examine how this can be done effectively without making the others resentful.

Part of Being Generative

            Some superiors think that their main duty is to lead the community by watching out for mistakes or misbehaviours  and correcting them.  This is not right.  The main duty of the superior is to be generative, not to correct.

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Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB

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Janet first met Florette at a gathering of the parish Ladies Club. She was a newcomer to the parish and had joined the club only recently. She was immediately attracted by the charming personality of Florette and moved toward her. The affirming and delightful way Florette welcomed her floored her. She felt drawn more closely to Florette and was feeling very good to be with her. They spent quite some time talking apart from the others and Janet was deeply impressed. Janet felt she could spend the whole evening with her. After a while, Florette told her, “It is such a delight talking to you. We must meet for coffee by ourselves soon” and moved away to someone else who was showing interest in her. The afterglow from the conversation smoothed over Janet’s disappointment that Florette had left her suddenly without introducing her to anyone else.

The invitation came the very next day. And they met on a few more occasions. Gradually Janet began to get irked and tired of Florette’s self-focus, as she realised more and more that Florette was not really the person she thought she was. She recognised the shallowness and superficiality of character and her tendency to get irritated whenever Janet said something that was not very appreciative of or not focused on Florette. Soon Janet drifted away from the relationship and felt good about it.

Janet had fallen victim to the impression creation art that those suffering from the histrionic personality disorder are so good at.

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FR JOSE PARAPPULLY SDB

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I am Dilan, hailing from Tuticorin, South Tamilnadu.  I am twenty-three years old.

Although I was gifted with a wonderful God-fearing and Catholic upbringing and was even privileged to have few God experiences when I just 5-6 years old, I was enticed by the worldly acts of my childhood friends which I had no idea about. One day I prayed to God and said, “I am not interested in being a good person as my parents taught me to be. Rather, I want to be like my friends.” I just went my way and then on, I started living like my friends and I desired to make my friends happy. I loved being with them and I even preferred to be with them rejecting the caring presence of my parents.

Downfall

Days went on and nothing changed much in my character. During my adolescence, I gave into the emotions and feelings of my body rather than me controlling it. I desired the pleasure of watching filthy movies which brought me nothing but sexual arousal. Later, I started using my body as an instrument for sexual pleasure. I became dreadfully addicted to pornography and masturbation, so much so that I would almost faint after indulging in both multiple times within a very short span. Then, I understood that, even if I try to reduce the frequency of such bad habits, I wasn’t able to. I stood helpless and hopeless, trying to fight them by myself. I ran into depression as I was doing the very thing I wanted to stop.

I remained a victim of these bad habits for about five years Eventually, my wonderful photographic memory power went to a point that I would forget what I ate that morning. I was physically, mentally and spiritually impacted. It was at that time my father (who was healed of certain illnesses by God during a retreat at Divine Retreat Center (DRC), Kerala in 2004) began to fall ill again  after ten years, and my mother fell sick too. My family started to become more and more financially burdened that we literally had to take loans in order to pay the monthly interests/dues to private financiers and banks. I could not accept it. I wanted to run away from this reality.

I went to college. There, I got into flirting and immoral relationships. My study habits deteriorated. My grades fell.

Thoughts of Suicide

In October 2017, I just managed to pass in a subject in which I should have done well. Had I failed, I would have had to discontinue my studies. The reason was that I had taken an educational loan, which included a condition that I should not fail even in one paper.

I felt so vulnerable and depressed that I started thinking of suicide. I almost took that tragic step.

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M DILAN

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The author realizes that he understood his father’s love late—in fact, only after his dad’s death.

It was my first Mother’s Day while working as a chaplain in jail when we ran out of greeting cards. You see, inmates have many mothers: starting from their biological ones; to grandmothers who might have raised them; and ending in their ‘baby-mamas,” the ones who bore their children. That first Mother’s Day inmates asked between four and five greeting cards considering that they could have had various baby-mamas! So, when a month later, we were due to celebrate Father’s Day we did not want to run out of cards. We bought a lot more. Most probably, after fifteen years, half of those cards are still nicely stacked in some cupboard in the chaplain’s office. As the same prisoners would proudly say, “There is only one mother, but father, any son of a …..” A lot of them, in fact, had no idea who their father was. Either he disappeared as soon as he found out that his girl friend was pregnant; or he was never present because he was locked up; or he just couldn’t care less. I remember being shocked by an eighteen-year-old Miguel in Colombia’s prison telling me, “I was conceived inside this same prison.” Juan’s memories take him back as an eight-year-old scared little boy sitting in the car next to a dead man’s body while his father was driving around the streets of Los Angeles looking for an “appropriate” place to dump it. Juan’s father had just murdered the man! The longest time Deshawn lived with his father was a bit over a year when they were sharing the same cell inside the same prison.

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Interestingly enough, Father’s Day in secular Italy is still celebrated on 19 March — the feast of St. Joseph. And that brings me to one of my favourite paintings of St. Joseph painted by El Greco around 1599. Trust and protection emanate from the tower-like figure of Joseph who looks lovingly yet with a trace of sadness at the boy Jesus. Joseph wears a blue dress. Blue is not only considered a masculine colour but also it is associated with a calming, compassionate aura, thereby giving a sense of wisdom and stability. At the same time he is wearing a gold-coloured cape — a symbol of wealth, high status, reputation, and elegance. But the viewer’s attention is definitely drawn towards the dark red dress which Jesus is wearing — that’s what El Greco intended. El Greco did not want to deflect our attention from Joseph to Jesus, but he wanted us to focus our attention on this relationship between this “vulnerable” boy and his father.

A lot is being said in the three visible hands. It was the Indian painter M.F. Husain who went to Rome to study the hands in the paintings and sculptures of the great saints. He had discovered that more was depicted in the saints’ hands than in their faces. It might be the case in this great painting. Joseph’s right hand on the staff is at the same time indicating and leading the way, while his left hand gently pulls the boy towards him. There is almost something feminine in this left hand of Joseph embracing and protecting the young boy. It seems to be less muscular than the right one. Jesus’ left hand rests on Joseph’s hip exerting a slight pressure on Joseph’s clothing. The boy’s right hand, even though not visible, catches his father at the back. A storm seems to be lurking in the background. Is the boy scared? No, there is nothing to be scared of because the little boy is covered with the cape of his father. The whole painting gives a sense of peace and tranquility amidst turmoil and turbulence.

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Bro Carmel Duca MC

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On May 8^th, 2022, the Church kept the “World Day of Prayer for Vocations.” On this occasion, Pope Francis gave a message on “Vocation,” which we will do well to listen to and take to heart. For those of us who have not read the whole document, here is a short presentation of its main points. I shall give direct quotes from the document in italics and inverted commas. I am presenting this short document under twelves sub-headings, to make the message clearer.

1. Purpose: The purpose the message—and of promoting “vocations”—is not to increase the number of priests and religious, but to BUILD THE HUMAN FAMILY: “We sense the urgent need to journey together, cultivating the spirit of listening, participation and sharing. Together with all men and women of good will, we want to help build the human family, heal its wounds and guide it to a better future.” In fact, the subtitle of the document is: “Called to Build the Human Family.” So, if I just stay in religious life or priesthood, or try to get more candidates for these groups, but do not build the human family where I am, I am defeating the very purpose of vocation.
2. Context: The Synodal Church. Coming together and healing the wounds of humanity is the main purpose of a vocation. Synodality, as the Pope has been emphasizing repeatedly, is not about a meeting of bishops or about creating a new document, but to become what we are meant to be as church: A mutually listening, caring family. “Synodality, journeying together, is a vocation fundamental to the Church. Only against this horizon is it possible to discern and esteem the various vocations, charisms and ministries.” The mission of the Church is to evangelize, that is, to be good news, to bring the Good News of God’s love to everyone. All the baptized have the same mission. In fact, the message insists that there should not be a separation of clergy and laity: “We must beware of the mentality that would separate priests and laity, considering the former as protagonists and the latter as executors.” We need to move away from mentality of bishops and priests taking decisions and the laity being expected simply to do what the clergy decide. No, all of us are in this together.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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What happened to this Canadian in his youth looks similar to what happened to St. Augustine and several others.

“I imbibed the poison and stopped going to the sacraments and ceased praying,’’ he says. The ‘poison’ he speaks of refers to the social and cultural revolution of the 1960s, when religion was ridiculed and the Church was mocked. ‘’I soon drifted out of my Catholic faith, thinking I was leaving behind a ‘myth’ that was no longer real. As my intellectual falsehoods and moral confusions increased, I felt a void growing within me. After years of this pride and rebellion—when I thought I was an autonomous, superior and free being—God permitted me to see the actual condition of my soul.  He allowed radical evil to assault me as a spiritual presence that was so dark and terrifying that I felt paralyzed, totally helpless to defend myself…It was the pit of total darkness, total terror, and absolute abandonment.’’

“But at that very moment I cried out to God and he rescued me,’’ he says. ‘’From a small spark in my soul a weak but desperate cry leaped out of me. ‘O God, save me!’ Instantly, the horrifying presence of evil retreated and the peace of God filled me for the first time in many years. Then I knew that God was not far away—He is never far away—if only I would look up, if only I would ask.’’

 This is how the most painful moment of his life became the most beautiful moment for Michael O’Brien. That was the moment when he met Jesus Christ and was “given instantaneous knowledge that everything the Church and the Gospels had taught was true. It is the ultimate Real.’’ In the months and years that followed the Lord helped him find deep healing and gradually discover the path for his life in him.

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Fr M A Joe Antony SJ

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Insights and suggestions of Sr Inigo Joaquim SSA, a former superior general who later worked with prisoners and animated thousands of religious, both in India and abroad. (The interview was conducted by Ms Janina Gomes.)

1. You were Superior General of St. Anne’s Congregation, Chennai, for two terms, 1990-2002. What did your congregation focus on with you at the helm?

At a very young age, I was elected in our 20^th General Chapter as the Leader of the congregation and re-elected in the 21^st General Chapter to relevantly respond to the times. The Spirit-filled General Chapters led the Congregation to commit itself with renewed vigour to rejuvenate the formation, to re-define our spirituality of experiencing God in solidarity with the oppressed, to restructure and decentralize our administration, renew our life-style, deepen our social awareness and boldly and objectively revitalize the existing ministries and to identify relevant front-line ministries. I took the mandate given to me by the Chapter very seriously and considered the deliberations of the Chapter as divine intervention and the demand of the signs of the times and executed them with firmness and determination.

My predecessor and my Team members and many like-minded resource persons played a great supportive role in making my dream of vibrant and dynamic vision and mission a reality. My office as National CRI Secretary for Women’s section gave me fresh impetus to realize the time-bound focus. The CRI addressed the burning issues of that time by selecting apt themes to prepare the religious like, prophetic role of religious, liberation theology, living in the midst of the poor and identification with the poor, joining with the oppressed and fighting for justice issues, empowerment of women, to shun clericalism and being daring and liberated women religious.

My innovative thinking intensified the focus of my Congregation, “Experiencing God in the oppressed.” An integrated initial formation was programmed: Emphasizing the study of Bibilical Prophets and the life of the contemporary Indian Prophets and martyrs, Universal as well as Indian mystics, including Francis Assisi, a day of silence to interiorize the experiences—these were some of the new ventures. The Novices were given rural exposure where they made their first profession which was a historic moment.

Revitalizing on-going formation was also felt by the Congregation as the urgent need. Special focus on the life and the Spirit of our Foundress Gnanamma and interpreting the Charism of our Congregation in the light of the changing times, led to a new way of praying with flexibility. Specific objectives were identified for every ministry and policies were formulated and implemented. Innovative ways were introduced to respond to the needs of the target people. As a way of empowerment and to develop leadership qualities, sisters were trained to direct retreats to our own members and to others outside with the themes: Women, Jesus’ Movement, Inter-personal Relationship, Biblical Mission, etc. A special Yoga Retreat was organized for the whole Congregation. Sisters were encouraged to write books and to address public gatherings. A group of sisters brought out a special book on Education: Hidden truths and alternative values of School syllabus. Sisters also brought out books on “the women of courage”, “Folk art”, “the problems of child labourers”, “Let us save the Earth”, etc.

One memorable event I would like to put on record here during my leadership tenure to empower my sisters which is very much relevant to today’s context is the self defence skill: We were known as Karate Nuns. My genuine aim to allow my nuns to learn this art was not to attack and offend others but to realize our inner energy lying dormant, to improve their power of concentration and to defend oursleves in the wake of sexual harrassment. Karate Master Hussain wrote the following about this event: “This was the first time in the world nuns known for piety and non-violence learnt a martial art.” This was the breaking news all over the world and many international media swooped down on this unknown convent. The Vatican who heard on the ethics of nuns learning Karate remarked: “It is right to know self-defence when the second cheek is slapped too. This made big news.”

2. You were also the only delegate elected by the South Asian Women Religious to the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1994 ‘ Vita Consecrata’.

When Indian magazines announced my name, I was taken aback with the million-dollar question, “why me?’ There was no such preparation as we are doing now for the Synod 2023. We were called auditrices – only auditors with no voting right. Seating arrangements were made in a strictly hierarchical style.

I have had many enriching positive experiences. When I was at the Synod Hall with Pope John Paul II, Cardinals and Bishops, it was an overwhelming and thrilling experience for me. I felt the belongingness to the Catholic Church where women and men should be equal. The Synadol fathers listened to us and appreciated and acknowledged women’s voice. I took a legitimate pride on being an Indian woman religious.

I was touched by one of the prophetic interventions, of a Bishop: “In the Church, 75% of the consecrated people are women. If there are no women, there is no Consecrated life and no Church also. Hence, the future of the Church depends upon the responsible response we would be giving to women religious. If they don’t feel our support, eventually the Church will lose women too in this century.”

Now the Church under the leadership of Pope Francis is opening to the stark realities of the society and becoming inclusive is the Good News!

3. As a facilitator of General and Provincial Chapters of various congregations and speaker at various gatherings of priests, nuns and lay people, you have had a vast outreach in India and other countries. In what way were you enriched by such an outreach?

I am fully aware of God’s call as His special chosen instrument to proclaim God’s comforting as well as challenging message at various gatherings. Their feedback gave me a new revelation that I am very assertive, and walk the talk style and my sessions are direct, powerful and down to earth, based on the critical analysis and sound interpretation of the Word of God connected to the need of the hour. I cherished the affection and the appreciation of participants from various walks of life. Their perception and affirmation convinced me to speak and write with conviction and authority.

My experiential sharing of ideas and thoughts challenged the traditional mindset and disturbed the mediocre life-style of the participants. Their impressive and positive feedback helped me to acknowledge God’s gifts in me like my innovative thinking, humanism, commitment for a cause, experiencing God’s presence in everyone and clear vision. Indeed I have grown a lot and developed a more positive and friendly approach with others, of course, without compromising Gospel values.

4. You have animated many congregations of religious in India and guided them. You must have a pulse on the religious in India. In what way do you think they could change the way they function in modern times without losing their charism.

I have reached out to more than 120 Congregations – Major Superiors, Bishops, Priests, Seminarians, Religious and the laity both in India and abroad as retreat directress, resource person at seminars, Symposiums, various Forums and Chapter facilitator. I regard it as an amazing and awesome privilege granded to me.

Charism is nothing but listening to the voice of God through the cry of the poor and being disturbed and responding to it creatively in the context.

I firmly believe what Pope Francis says: “It is the Spirit that brings change. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to transform the hearts of religious. We are witnesses to the Gospel”. Let us make the spirit of Pope Francis our own.

I have witnessed the following common global and local challenges Consecrated life is facing: The dwindling of authentic vocations to religious. Multiplying pious exercises without allowing them to transform life is creating an aversion in the hearts of many good religious.

Comfortable and secure middle-class lifestyle, the lack of newness and creativity in approaching ministries, competition for power and positions, the dysfunction in community life, group infighting, misunderstanding and communication gap between authority and community members, create a discomfort to the religious who are seeking meaning and purpose to religious life.

Lack of emotional support and professional counselling when needed, gradually replacing the sense of mission by professionalism and, worse, by careerism and the pursuit of personal ambitions, just being administrators or managers, than being effective animators, individualism, absence of lay partnership, lack of inter-cultural and inter-religious knowledge and dialogue, addiction to modern technology though it is a boon, shocking personal scandals among those in positions: money handling, connection to their family members, not being accountable, justifying their values, taking undue advantage of their position and freedom are some of the glaring truths people are questioning.

Now the time has come for the religious to be serious about being a transforming presence in our present society. The clarion call is given to us to embrace the age-old values of true holiness, contemplation, renunciation and asceticism, detachment and simplicity and stand for truth and justice and face the consequences.

5. You have written two books on the consecrated life: Call to Move Beyond and Ever Evolving Consecrated Life. In what way does religious life evolve?

My two books are the concise summary and the Manifesto of Consecrated Life today. Taking into considertation the reality of the dearth of women writers, I launched into this new vneture to awaken the present generation who do not want to get into this parameter of stagnation.

My first book, Consecrated Life, Called to Move Beyond, consists of  my own personal experiences of religious life at various stages. We know that we are at the crossroad without a clear signposta. Deep down I have been yearning to present a roadmap which could give a clear green signal to Consecrated Life. The positive interaction with various groups in India and abroad (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, etc.). have certainly provoked me to think further, especially from a practical point of view to move their life beyond the beaten path and beyond pietistic and legalistic spiritualities.  As people and their thinking are changing, objectives are different and new needs are emerging, we need to discover new roads to walk on and new possibilities to explore.

As the world is alarmed about the pandemic Covid-19, followed by social distancing and lock-down, my second book, Ever Evolving Consecrated Life, emerged. Searching for relevance is an on-going endeavour involving a constant quest to seek, find and carry out the will of God in our life.

As the world order is changing drastically due to the global crisis created by this pandemic, I sincerely feel that there should be an evolution and revolution in the way we live our consecrated life today. I feel the need to leave behind a relevant and rich legacy to the younger generation by nurturing friendship with ecology and living an eco-friendly life-style. As young religious are seeking meaningful and newer forms of living their consecrated life, I am sure the various themes of my book would inspire them to explore and discover newer pastures in the ever-changing times in the contemporary world.

6. After finishing your mission as Superior General, you opted to work at the Tihar Jail in Delhi, which is the largest in Asia, with 20,000 inmates. What made you take that plunge into unfamiliar ground?

The following factors motivated me to plunge into this unfamiliar ground:

My first inspiration was the Word of God: Lk: 4: 18, Mt: 25: 40.

When I was at the Synod, I was impressed by the inspirational message of Mother Teresa: “It is a beautiful gift of God to take care of the people, men and women in jail who are the least. It is something beautiful for God and is a real gift”.

Reading about the prison reforms introduced by Kiran Bedi, the first woman Director General of Prisons at Tihar in Delhi and the way she changed the jail into an Ashram years ago, moved me.

Some of you might still remember having read in the newspapers, regarding the hanging of Ranga and Billa in the Tihar Jail. When the Judge pronounced the death sentence, they literally froze. At the end, the Judge asked them for their last wish, if any. Ranga related a pathetic story. He said: “During my imprisonment, no one from my family visited me. One day a friend of mine came to the jail to convey a terse message from my mother. The message was: ‘Go and tell him that I don’t have a son like him.’” When he shared this, he wept bitterly and said to the Judge: “I have no one to love me here on earth. I am ready to die.” They were hanged on 31^st January, 1982. I was frozen to read this news. This was also another important reason.

I wanted to study from the struggling people and from their real life experiences. My personal questions like: What is the meaning of my religious vocation? Who benefits by my God-given vocation? Can I do what I am doing now without being a religious? What is my special or additional contribution to serve the least and the lost as a religious? Who are the poorest of the poor who needs my intervention?

7. What did you learn from your prison ministry?

Tihar Jail is run by Government of Delhi. The prison complex contains altogether sixteen jails with a capacity of 20,000 inmates. A prison is not a normal place. This is a different world altogether.

A prisoner is a human being without a voice. He is confined in a forty square feet space for eighteen hours a day with no privacy and no dignity. The nature of discipline for the innocent and the under-trials is the same as that of hard-core criminals. Due to over-crowding and congestion, sicknesses spread easily. It is very disgusting to pass time in jails. The design of the buildings, the cells and the walls are such that even a normal person will soon become insane and mentally deranged.

Let us remember what Archbishop Fulton Sheen once told the prisoners: “You are caught, I’m not. That is the difference between you and me”. We all make mistakes but we are given a chance to repent but though the prisoners want to prove themselves good, first time itself the chance is denied because of the special conditions of Indian judiciary. All of them may not be criminals. Some are there as victims of circumstances, many others are wrongly accused or some other reasons like poverty, hunger, unemployment, exploitation, irresponsible parents, peer pressure, wrong formation, no formation etc.

The new outlook on prisoners is: Criminals are not born; society makes them that way! People in prisons are still human beings. People should hate the crime, not the criminals. Some are like fish accidentally caught in the net; and have no chance of escaping.

Some are summarily rejected by their family and have no visitors for months together. This causes tremendous mental agony and gradually leads them into deep depression. Hence we, the NGOs, are considered ‘angels’ in the prison.

According to HR Commission, 40% of the under-trials in the prisons are innocent human beings. Not that I call these prisoners I work with blameless. Rather, I also feel the blame within myself, within the human community that leaves them feeling abandoned and without human worth. To speak to them, to love them and to participate in their human agony is a God –experience. To meet them and spend time with them listening to their agonies who are unlawfully implicated and treat them as our own brothers and sisters is spirituality for me. But who cares for them? Who bothers about them?

Often Pope Francis appeals to the authorities to take practical measures, which are urgently needed to improve the living conditions in the prisons. He is pleading with the Governments to abolish the death penalty, where it is still in force and to reconsider the possibility of an amnesty.

8. Tell us some of the experiences of the prisoners.

Prison Ministry is not about doing miraculous works among the inmates or securing their release from the prison. It is about our presence and availability. A kind word, a listening heart, a gentle touch, a little smile and concerned look do wonders. Our primary purpose of visiting the prisons is to learn from the inmates. They inspire us.

The inmates’ testimony of faith, their knowledge of the Word of God and their sense of gratitude for our presence, etc., strengthened my faith. They are my benefactors. They teach me many truths of life, like the values of hope, endurance, resilience, sense of gratitude, etc., and deepen our own faith experience. Once what a Christian inmate shared with me is unforgettable:

“Sister, we can bring our problems to the notice of God. We can ask Him what we need. But we should not give our suggestions to God. We cannot give our opinion to God. We don’t need to make decisions for God. We should leave God to be God. He will do great things in His time and in His way”. These moments have helped me to see my life differently.

Our loving presence of course instill the inmates with a sense of remorse for the misdeeds that they have committed. The prisoners suffer from utter loneliness and helplessness. Love seems far away from their life. It is to such persons we are reaching out. The love extended to them in the moment of their darkest hour brings healing, joy, peace, hope and the will to go on with mental stability.

During the Season of Christmas and Lent, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Eucharistic celebrations are being arranged to bring spiritual consolation and strength to our inmates. As for me, it would be a sense of sheer joy and gratitude for being able to bring and share our Lord with them, who are physically imprisoned; sadness as they are so terribly restrained; fear because of the sight of all the chains and locks and enclosures all around.

The Psalms and the lamentations spoke to me, not only about the trial of Jesus 2000 years ago, but also about the court trials endured by our prisoners I work with at Tihar in collaboration with Prison Ministry of India.

     9. In what way can others be involved with such a noble ministry?

Jesus is the founder of Prison Ministry. He inaugurated it on the cross, while He was hanging between those two criminals. He was included in the category of the worst of criminals despite the fact that he was innocent. Hence Prison Ministry is Biblical Ministry, Moral ministry, ethical ministry, human ministry, a spiritual ministry and this is also a Universal Ministry. We can proudly say that this is the only one ministry in the church that involves all sorts of people together–priests, religious, seminarians, lay men and women. Even religious congregations are now contemplating about front-line and relevant ministries. I strongly recommend this ministry to religious where we don’t give much but we gain and learn a lot for our life.

We need to have certain characteristics to involve in this noble ministry.

We have to be persons of non-judgmental and compassion with sustained interest and perseverance: Many show enthusiasm in getting the jail entry pass and visiting the inmates in the excitement for a month and then many lose the original interest and initial zeal. It is not simply a work that we can do there because we are retired or have nothing else to do or we are emotionally charged after attending some seminar about prison ministry. Let there be continuity, and one should be ready to spend quality time with them and listen to their pathetic and heart-rending stories with love and care.

Many have deep seated anger, feelings of revenge, frustration and even suicidal and homicidal tendencies. Counseling them and providing psychological help is important. One can get free legal aid from Advocates friends to help them to get a bail or to be acquitted and also rendering some financial and moral support, when they are released. We can provide medical assistance too with the help of doctors. We can contact their family members by direct visit or through telephones and make efforts to bring reconciliation with their family members.

Arranging for their spiritual needs like Eucharistic celebration, confession and prayer services and Bible- study groups. They often ask for our prayers. They believe that the Lord of history can change their destiny. They have lost everything. But, they say, they can’t afford to lose God. Our assurance of prayers for these unfortunate brothers and sisters will go a long way in removing their feelings of guilt and helplessness and bring hope in their hopeless lives.

What the inmates need is our compassionate presence. Our presence brings them lots of healing and hope and conversion of hearts. They consider us as angels. One inmate said: “If I had met you earlier, I wouldn’t be here in the prison”. Prison ministry is primarily a Ministry of Presence. Our mere presence changes their mood of helplessness. Our presence makes them feel that they have still somebody to care for them and that they are, after all, not forgotten.

Prison Officials admit: “Your language of forgiveness and mercy to the inmates is different from our harsh and crude language. They crave to listen to your soothing voice. Only you can do it.”

Their self-esteem is low. They need to be encouraged. They need to be given hope. Find the broken hearts in dark places searching for the light. Negative words and sometimes even about their own families disown us. The key role is to enable prisoners to see the good things in themselves.

10. Anything else you would like to add?

Call to Consecrated life is a grace and a blessing too. But the context of Covid-19 invites us to set right our priorities. This is the time to relook into ourselves and make a sincere introspection of every area of our life and make a paradigm shift. To live a witnessing consecrated life is not complicated or difficult. Our Spirituality is simple. We may have to distinguish between our out-modelled practices of celebrating liturgy, our meaningless celebrations and rituals, our traditional way of running institutions and the fear to launch into new way of living our life courageously. We are not doing anything extra as a religious in our life, if we are not getting out of our comfort zone and cast the net deep into the sea and experience the troubled waters.

May we move from mountain to multitude, from withdrawal to involvement, from dumb silence to passionate service and from merely saying prayers to people experience and from vertical to horizontal relationship. Let us get ready to go through a kind of death experience to start everything afresh. It is time to ask the Spirit: “Come, Oh Holy Spirit! Set our hearts on fire!”

May the freshness of the Holy Spirit blow away unwanted, secondary and non-essential elements from our life and make us Mystics and Missionaries, Message and Messengers, Deeply God-experienced and Prophetic witnesses in our times and in our context.

May this prayer from Upanishads, “Lead us from untruth to truth, from darkness to light and from mortality to immortality” be our guiding inspiration.

“Into that heaven of freedom, my Father and Mother, let our Consecrated Life awake”! (Tagore)

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Sr Inigo Joaquim SSA

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Father Stu

Writer/ Director: Rosalind Ross * Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver, Teresa Ruiz (124 minutes)

A fun loving boisterous, agnostic amateur boxer from a dysfunctional family, chaser after earthy glory and pleasure, Stuart Long was the least likely candidate for Catholic priesthood. But that is exactly what this film tells us about! Stuart Long was brought up in a dysfunctional family that suffered the trauma of the death of one of the children in childhood, a mostly absentee, alcoholic, abusive father Bill and a naïve, failed mother Kathleen. Religion was never in the picture. Yearning for recognition, he becomes an athlete specializing in boxing, but sustaining lot of injuries and not much money.  He moves to Hollywood, dreaming of stardom and makes a living working in a supermarket, where his meeting with a Latino Sunday school teacher named Carmen changes his life. She insists that she will only date a Catholic, which makes him pretend to be interested in the church. He joins a catechism programme to impress her. Soon he gets serious with the faith and gets baptized and begins dating Carmen. Still struggling with his alcoholism, Stu gets involved in a deadly road accident and is near death. During this trauma he has a vision of Virgin Mary which lifts up his spirit and heals him. Stu develops a feeling that God has given him a second chance. He feels he is called to priesthood so he could help people like him. He prefers marriage with Carmen to the priesthood, but after prayer and discernment decides to pursue the seminary. Carmen discourages him. His parents are scandalized. Unfazed by the initial rejection by the seminary authorities, Stu’s personal appeal to the rector succeeds. Half way through his seminary studies, he is diagnosed with a rare debilitating disease, disqualifying him for ordination.  This opens a new chapter of questioning God and of eventual acceptance of suffering as a gift, with grace and dignity. Forced to leave the seminary, he returns home, to be cared for by his parents. However, even in his disease, he refuses to give up hope and under the petitions of his fellow parishioners, he is ordained and serves as an exemplary pastor. He served as priest and counselor till his death in 2014 aged 50.

The Cut

Director: Fatih Akin * Tahar Rahim, Simon Abkarian, Hindi Zahra, Kevork Malikyan (2014; 128 minutes)

Set against the historic Armenian Genocide of the World War I, the film presents a variety of themes including religious persecution, racism, separation and loss, crisis of faith. The film is focused on the problem of evil that infects the victim and the victimizers.  In 1915 the disintegrating Ottoman Empire unleashed brutal persecution and extermination of Armenian Christians. The young blacksmith Nazareth Manoogian living peacefully in the village of Mardin with his wife and two girls is arrested one night by armed guards and taken to a slave labour camp in the desert where he  experiences the savagery of the Ottoman cruelty firsthand. One night a Turkish officer offers to free those who convert to Islam. The few who accept are taken away.  Those who refuse, including Nazareth are taken to be killed. Their executioners are other prisoners. Nazareth’s executioner only wounds his throat – rendering him dumb—to make the soldiers think his throat is cut, and returns at night to rescue him from among the murdered. Nazareth remains dumb till the climactic moments of his seven-year-long, dangerous quest for his lost family, across the Syrian Desert to Lebanon, Cuba and finally to America. Nazareth hates God and tries to erase the cross-tattoo from his hand and throws stones at heaven.   In a hellish camp in the desert, he meets his sister-in-law dying of starvation. She asks him to kill her as an act of mercy. He obliges, but is overcome with deep sorrow and guilt. During a chance meeting, an old fellow villager informs him that the Armenian is at the border town of Ras Al Ain. Fighting the certainty of his family having perished, he continues the search. In one of the refugee homes he sees the photograph of his two daughters who are gone to Lebanon. The orphanage headmistress in Lebanon informs him that they have migrated to Cuba. Nazareth travels to Cuba, and from there to Florida, USA. He narrowly escapes being shot as an intruder, steals a ride on a train and finally arrives in North Dakota, ending his journey on a mixed note of joy and sorrow.  Even in his suffering Nazareth shows his essential humanity when he refuses to throw stones at the Ottoman soldiers returning humiliated from the battlefront while others around him do.

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Prof Gigy Joseph

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