Prison Ministry Five Year Goals: 2007 to 2011
Provide a program of ministry for all correctional facilities and institutions located in the Diocese of Owensboro
Objectives:
- Conduct a survey every other year of programs offered to jails and prisons in the Diocese of Owensboro.
- Develop a volunteer recruitment program to include informational and educational programs and a volunteer recruitment video.
- Provide periodic training for those involved in Jail and Prison ministry to better equip them to minister to the spiritual needs of those that are incarcerated.
- Develop resources for those incarcerated in jails and prisons to help them sustain their spiritual lives such as retreat programs like Residents Encounter Christ (REC.)
- Develop a program for Parish communities to welcome and mentor those released from correctional facilities. (Cf Responsibility, Rehabilitation, Restoration statement prepared by the U.S. Bishops.)
- Assess the need, and seek to hire a part-time director to develop and facilitate jail in prison ministry outreach in the Diocese of Owensboro.
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Minutes Most Recently Available
PRISON MINISTRY COMMITTEE
MINUTES
December 13, 2011
Present: Dick Murphy, Sharrie Cinnamond, Lane Rhodes, Joe Wathen, Brett Mills and Fr. Ray Clark
Lane opened the meeting with prayer.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published.
Old Business:
Keep Out – This program was designed to help ex-offenders get ready for employment, but the program is not working as designed in our area at the present time. They received a diocesan grant but all the money have not been used. Fr. Ray Clark would like to use some of these funds to purchase 25 copies of the book The Return of the Prodigal by Henri Nouwen and notebooks to use as a reflective study during Lent. He estimated the cost to be about $200. The committee approved of this expenditure. Dick will check with Kevin Kaufield to see if this is within the guidelines for use of the funds.
Brett has been doing some research on statistics about available employment in the area and would like to create a binder or pamphlet that would give information to help those being released find employment. Dick has found that the public library has several good books on finding employment and they offer helpful information for those searching for jobs. Brett will check out this information.
Fresh Start – Now they have a website: FreshStartforLife.com . They are working on being a resource for those just released. They are trying to hook up with parish groups and set up Celebrate Recovery Groups in some of the Parishes. Bob will speak to Bishop Medley about this and see if he will give his approval to using Celebrate Recovery in the Catholic parishes.
REC - The Men’s REC weekend at GRCC went well. There were a few problems, but the team was able to make adjustments . Men’s weekends are scheduled for Feb. 2012 at Blessed Mother; DCDC in April 2012 and a weekend at Brescia in June of 2012. A women’s’ weekend at DCDC is scheduled for Feb of 2012. The Asst. Warden at a prison in Danville, IL has asked about starting the program there. Sharrie is trying to get more information and find out is there is a community there who can serve on teams.
In-Service Planning – This would offer information about what Prison Ministry is; the steps needed to get into this ministry and try to increase the number of those involved. This will become part of our three year plan.
Brett noted that a big challenge we have is gaining access into the county jails. Unless a prisoner specifically asks for a visit from a pastor or someone in the ministry we are not allowed in the jail. We talked about contacting those who grant access and get more information. Dick said it would take a personal contact (not just a phone call) with the local jailor and Fr. Ray noted that it should come from someone locally.
New Business:
Dick gave us several handouts with information on the Death Penalty. He also gave an overview of Catholics at the Capital and what will be happening.
New Goals – After the listening sessions it was decided to go to a 3 year plan rather than 5 year. We decided to leave our first 5 Objectives as they are and continue to work toward improving access into the jails and finding better means of communication. We also want to find ways of working with other faith groups. Objective #6 about hiring a part-time director was dropped.
Brett will write an article for the Western KY Catholic about the many needs of those incarcerated and offer some specific ways parishes and people can reach out to help them.
Fr. Ray closed the meeting with a prayer.
The next meeting dates are February 14, and April 10, 2012 at 10 am at the CPC
Sharrie Cinnamond, Secretary
