Bengaluru: In a unique initiative held the whole of last week, Prison Ministry India (PMI)’s ‘Reform to Re-integrate’ programme held over Google Meet witnessed 60 eager participants taking part from all over India.
PMI, a national voluntary organization under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), has a history of liberating, rehabilitating and redeeming tens and thousands of prisoners and their families through its 20 rehabilitation centers and 8,000 volunteers all over India. Since inception, PMI has grown and is now currently serving 1,412 prisons and 4.5 lakh prisoners across India.
The topics discussed ranged from the background and overview of PMI to visiting prisons and developing skills for interacting with prisoners and their families.
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”, was the thirst of PMI volunteers as they immersed themselves into two-week training program.
Since most of the volunteers were new to the PMI, the national team enriched the volunteers with many insights about the themes of Prison Ministry Spirituality, Biblical and Historical perspectives of PMI.
PMI programme was focussed on regaining the lost, rights of prisoners, types of prisons and prisoners, human rights and prisoners’ rights and the life experience of reformed prisoner. The training program, conducted every year by the national office in the month of May went online this year due to Coronavirus pandemic.
As the theme was ‘Lockdown shall not lock us down’, it was decided to have an online training program for full timers/volunteers. The volunteers benefitted immensely out of it and under the guidance of Fr Francis Kodiyan MCBS, the national coordinator and Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, the national secretary and Chief Editor of Prison Voice.
On 15 June 2020, the Prison Ministry India Full timers’ Course 2020 was inaugurated with 60 participants from all over India.
On Day 2: 16 June, the first session was handled by Rev Dr Francis Kodiyan MCBS, PMI co-founder and national coordinator. Fr Francis took them through the width and depth of PMI by enlightening the volunteers on the ministry that has grown all over India by the providence of God. Since its inception in 1981, PMI has spread across the 175 Diocese of India. The new focus is on parish-level units, thus enabling parishioners to get involved in this meaningful ministry. Fr Francis emphasised on the roles and responsibilities as PMI Members, and that reintegration is the key.
In response, “We will be the rainbows in the lives of the prisoners. Your years of experience have enlightened us. You are a miracle Fr Francis,” said Libby from Pune.
Sr. Lini Sheeja conducted the second session shedding light on PMI – A Ministry to Regain the Lost. Drawing inspiration from Jesus who said “I have come to seek sinners and not the righteous”, PMI volunteers are called to reach out to the least, the last and the lost. She enlightened the participants on the three new projects of PMI and introduced them to the first two basic principles of PMI – Prayer Our Power House and Inconvenience Our Convenience.
“Overall, the session was enriching based on deep spiritual values of Jesus Christ. Sr. Lini put the fire on all of us,” remarked a happy Sr Justine SJA from Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
Day 3: 17 June saw Bishop Most Rev Dr Allwyn D’Silva, PMI chairman who enlightened the volunteers on biblical foundations of PMI. He said, “We need to focus on regeneration of prisoners not just rehabilitation. For that, we need to be regenerated. This is possible only if we are deeply rooted in Christ and Scripture. Using Scriptural references, Bishop Allwyn explained the five principles of PMI Volunteers – Redemption, Relationship, Service, Deliverance and Transformation.
“We were blessed to listen to Bishop Allwyn. It was spiritual and fabulous as you connected PMI biblically. Thank you imparting the biblical perspectives of PMI Your Grace”, said Josephine from Mumbai.
Fr Varghese Karippery took the participants gave an historical perspective of PMI. Quoting Mt 25:36, he said the foundation of PMI is “I was in prison, you visited me”. “We should be channels of repentance for prisoners, offering them hope for a renewed life. Now it’s our turn to co-operate and collaborate in this noble venture.”
“You are a wonder, thank you for inviting us to attune ourselves to the voice of the Holy Spirit Fr Varghese”, said by Ashok Kumar from Vijayawada.
Day 4: 18 June was handled by Rev Dr Francis Kodiyan MCBS, the national coordinator and secretary to CBCI for PMI who imparted to the volunteers on Spirituality of PMI. He shared his God-experience of PMI as he quoted Pope Francis who exhorted everyone to reach out to the marginalized especially those on the periphery/fringes of society. Five dimensions of Prison Ministry spirituality were explained, “Jesus centred spirituality, people-oriented spirituality, spirituality of the good shepherd, spirituality of the father of the prodigal son and reformation spirituality. We, as PMI volunteers, need to undergo a spiritual transformation before we can minister to the lost sheep. Stages of reformation begin with self-reformation followed by reformation of prisoners, prisons, churches, society and finally the world.
“Prison Ministry is completely the work of the Holy Spirit as we serve the lost, least and the last. Thank you Fr Francis for the words of wisdom and leading an exemplary life. We are blessed to be part of the PMI family. Thank you Fr Francis for the enriching talk”, exclaimed by Pramila from Delhi.
The second speaker of the day was Sr Clara HC, the directress of Jeevodaya, a rehabilitation centre for released women prisoners and women in distress. She spoke to on types of prisons and prisoners. She presented statistics and descriptions of various prisons across India based on location, nature of crime, tenure of sentence etc. She also said, “Our purpose of jail visits is two-fold – we are visiting Jesus in the jail and we are also representing Jesus to others. We should aim to release prisoners in their hearts and thus focus on being faithful to them. Do not be worried about one’s qualification – When God calls us He qualifies us. We should fully trust in the divine providence of God and we will see miracles unfold”. Sr Clara shared two beautiful and recent miracles a result of prayer – a convicted women was acquitted at the last moment and the miraculous donation of a convict’s marriage gift.
“It was very informative session and thank you for moving our hearts with the life testimony Sr Clara. We could feel divine providence from your sharing,” said Patricia from Maharashtra.
On Day 5: 19 June, after being enriched with lot of God experience and real life stories, it was the day for the volunteers to know about ‘Human Rights and Prisoners’ Rights’. Rev Dr P D Mathew, the first priest lawyer and Supreme Court Judge, said, “The basic principle of spirituality related to social justice is that we are all are called by God to be ministers/servants of the children of God. We should view the imprisoned as our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Our service to them is service of God”.
“It was very informative and fruitful session. We gained much knowledge. Well explained in detail and in depth Fr P D Mathew,” said Sushma Xavier from Gujarat.
On day six, Sr Lini Sheeja, continued her session on P’MI – A Ministry to Regain the Lost’. The other two basic principles of PMI were explained by her. She spoke convincingly with her life experience that, “We leap with faith into the life of a prisoner believing that if we do our best then God will do the rest. Also, by taking a beggar’s approach we can empathise and feel the angst and struggles of our brethren behind the bars. Don’t be discouraged by three inevitable realities of Prison Ministry – no appreciation guaranteed, non-encouraging situations and no immediate results. ‘When I was in prison you visited me so now enter into the kingdom of my father’”.
“You spoke from the heart, Sr Lini. Thank you for enlightening us with your life experience”, said Daisy Mathew from Trivandrum.
Best Practices of PMI were presented by Sr Lini Sheeja. “Every saint has a past and every sinner a future, thus we should not be judgemental but rather offer hope for the hopeless. As she explained the guidelines for PMI she said, “to begin with, we need plan and prepare ourselves before we enter a prison – we need to put on the armour of God and follow the entry procedures. Once inside, we are the guests of the Prison Officials in a highly restricted area. We need to strictly adhere to the prescribed and permitted behaviour guidelines.”.
“Thank you Sr Lini for the guidelines that we the volunteers need to live” said Br Andrew Pereira from Goa
The second resource person of the day was Alex Gracian (name changed), an ex-prisoner who shared with tears his life experience. Alex was incarcerated at the age of 21 for 12 years (1996-2008). He was bailed out a few times but continued to be a repeat offender. He was addicted to alcohol. He had no repentance. Hailed from a devout Catholic family, he said “until we feel the grace of God, we can’t be transformed. Criminal is not born a murderer or rapist. Life’s circumstances drive them there. Deprivation of love leads them to crime”. Finally in 2000, He experienced the Fathers’ love as that of the love of the father to the prodigal son. Today, he is a reformed man of deep faith. He has a job and a family.
“Alex, you moved us with your life experience. It was heart touching testimony and great learning for each one of us. Our prayers for you and your family”, said by Sheila D’Souza from Goa.