Earlier this week, Tuesday 15 October, we welcomed members of the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) at the 5.30pm Mass, celebrated by Bishop Paul McAleenan, for prisons week.
Pictured: Julia Corcoran, Andy Keen-Downs & Bishop Paul McAleenan
HOMILY
The advice provided by Our Lord is a very practical one, which I am sure we all observe. When washing a used cup cleanse the outside, giving a neat and tidy appearance is important but, for completeness, for hygiene and for health, is it essential to clean the inside. It is not difficult to understand that necessity.
The image, coming from the words of Jesus, has application to our own lives. Outward appearance is one thing, we look and we see. Scripture says ‘People look at appearances, God looks at the heart’. What is within is essential. That image of attention to the whole, of a desire to attend to the whole can be expanded beyond the individual. The Church, her agencies and charities, also employ it in a desire to address bigger issues, and so promote what we call the Common Good. That which is helpful, good and beneficial for everyone in society, including ourselves.
An example is a cause that is being addressed week throughout the country. This is Prisons Week, being held from 13th to the 19th of October, it is an ecumenical initiative which most Christian Churches are involved in.
You will certainly be aware that our prisons are overcrowded, almost at full capacity. These conditions affect prisoners and prison wardens, staff and management, probation officers, lawyers, solicitors, police, everyone in the criminal justice system.
We have a Catholic charity known as PACT, the Prison Advice and Care Trust, which works with all those whom I have mentioned; with the Ministry of Justice, with victims of crime. Perhaps most importantly, they work with the families, spouses, and children of those in prison. Crime affects so many people adversely, especially the families of the imprisoned. Children no longer have the company and support of an absent parent.
PACT’s aim is to encourage prisoners to make a fresh start, beginning when they are in prison, and to support their families to minimise the harm that imprisonment can have on their families. They do so in various ways.
When we try to imagine a prison often what comes to mind is a grey, grim, imposing, impregnable Victorian building, such as Wormwood Scrubs. Most people wouldn’t want to go further than the entrance gate.
At one side of that establishment is a what is known as a family space, which has a pleasant entrance. It has an equally pleasant interior, with soft furnishings, a library, toys, an indoor and outdoor play area all for children. It is designed as a space where children can meet an imprisoned parent in an unthreatening environment. PACT’s concern is the welfare, the social and psychological wellbeing of everyone affected by custodial sentences, including children. PACT manage the centre with the blessings and a contract of the Ministry of Justice, an acknowledgement of the immediate and long-term value of their work.
PACT’s investment in this work which involves, among many other things, education and mental health assistance, helps to make communities safer and lowers the risk of reoffending.
Jesus once, when explaining the purpose of his ministry, said, ‘I came not to condemn the world but to save the world’. He never lost sight that he came among us to bring hope, to save the lost, to lift up the fallen, to console the forsaken, to protect the vulnerable, to encourage those afflicted and disadvantaged by the actions of others. His ministry left no one out.
PACT, as it engages with everyone, also brings that Gospel message of hope to those who need it. It provides a means by which this hope can be realised, and an opportunity of new beginning and rehabilitation. The whole of society benefits from the outcome.
In this Prisons Week, we pray for everyone affected by crime, not forgetting those such as innocent families who often bear the brunt of the consequences. We pray too for PACT that God will continue to bless its work with those who need lifting up. Some members of PACT are with us this evening. You can visit them at the stall they have established to speak more after Mass.
+ Paul McAleenan
A PRAYER FOR PRISONS WEEK
Lord, you offer freedom to all people. We pray for those in prison. Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist. Support with your love prisoners and their families and friends, prison staff and all who care. Heal those who have been wounded by the actions of others, especially the victims of crime. Help us to forgive one another, to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly together with Christ in his strength and in his Spirit, now and every day. Amen.