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Article_The prisoner remains a child of God

Homilies | Saturday, September 24, 2016

The prisoner remains a child of God

Homily by Archbishop Wenski at Commissioning Mass of Diocesan Prison and Jail Ministry

PHOTO: SISTER ELIZABETH WORLEY, SSJ | FC Archbishop Thomas Wenski with Deacon Edgardo Farias, Director of the archdiocesan Detention Ministry (Left)and Bishop Peter Baldacchino (back right) during the Commissioning Mass of Diocesan Prison and Jail Ministry.

Photographer:

PHOTO: SISTER ELIZABETH WORLEY, SSJ | FC Archbishop Thomas Wenski with Deacon Edgardo Farias, Director of the archdiocesan Detention Ministry (Left)and Bishop Peter Baldacchino (back right) during the Commissioning Mass of Diocesan Prison and Jail Ministry.


Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at the Commissioning Mass of Diocesan Prison and Jail Ministry at Corpus Christi Church. Saturday, September 24, 2016. 

Jesus says in the gospel reading today, “The Son of Man will be handed over to men.” The reality of the incarcerated was not unknown to Jesus.  As Jesus said in the great parable of the Last Judgment (cf. Matthew 25), I was in prison and you visited me. I thank you all who visit the incarcerated in our jails and prisons. Visiting the imprisoned is one of what we Catholics call “the corporal works of mercy”. It is, however, as you yourselves well know, a mercy seldom practiced in a society that prefers to ignore those it has disposed of. 

The prisoner remains a child of God. In spite of whatever crime, he or she might have committed the prisoner does not forfeit his or her dignity as a child of God.  We do well to reflect on the good thief who was crucified along side of Jesus – he was good because he stole heaven.  This man beatified by Christ from the cross made it to heaven before the Peter and the other apostles, he made it to heaven even before the sinless Virgin Mary. 

As a Church we must proclaim and promote the respect of each person’s dignity – this must include the unborn, the handicapped, the elderly…and it cannot fail to include the prisoner as well.  Violence begets violence: man’s inhumanity to man consists not only of crime itself but also how we as a society treat the wrongdoer. 

PHOTO: SISTER ELIZABETH WORLEY, SSJ | FC Archbishop Thomas Wenski at the Commissioning Mass of Diocesan Prison and Jail Ministry.

Photographer:

PHOTO: SISTER ELIZABETH WORLEY, SSJ | FC Archbishop Thomas Wenski at the Commissioning Mass of Diocesan Prison and Jail Ministry.

Prisoners are warehoused usually hundreds of miles from their families. Our Judeo-Christian tradition has always called for the humane treatment of prisoners and has emphasized that imprisonment should lead to the rehabilitation of the prisoner so that he can return to society and resume his place as a productive citizen. The reality of prisons today is far from this ideal. While society needs to be protected from the worse among us, there is little effort to rehabilitate the nonviolent and the misguided.  And while our constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, what we see happening in our prisons is cruel and inhuman. The spread of infectious diseases in prisons, including AIDS, and the sexual violence that occurs within prison walls point out just how inhuman conditions are in our nation’s prison system today.  

They say, “Justice is blind”. But, today, justice is more crippled than blind. We see this in the inequity of the system itself – which allows those with legal counsel and resources to defer or avoid prison; we see this in how we treat those who are incarcerated – who are usually the ill-educated, the mentally ill or the poor.   

Today, the United States has more than 2.2 million people in prison on any given day – and in the course of a year some 13.5 million passed through our correctional institutions in the course of a year.  As a nation we incarcerate more of our population than any other Western country, more than the Soviet Union did.   

How did this come about? There are lots of reasons, of course. The crisis in our families – the breakup and dissolution of our families, especially among the poor, certainly left many young people rudderless. Many did not only lose their way; they never learned the way.   

Because of ill considered tougher sentencing laws and tougher parole laws that seek more to punish than to rehabilitee our prison populations continue to grow. “Three strikes” laws often end up sentencing minor criminals to a lifetime of jail for what are relatively petty third offenses. And how many people are in jail – because they are mentally ill or addicted to drugs? 

All this reflects the sad reality of the people whom you minister to. Whether you go to a small county jail, or a large federal prison, you walked into a world of pain and despair.  Into this darkness, you bring the light of hope, because you go in the name of the Lord whom himself we must remember was imprisoned and suffered crucifixion, the capital punishment of his time. By your presence, you help make this world – the world of our correctional institutions – a bit more humane – and not only for the prisoner but also for his jailers (and we cannot forget how they too can be dehumanized by the system. 

Con su presencia, ustedes ayudan a hacer este mundo – el mundo de nuestras instituciones correccionales, un poco más humana – y no sólo para el prisionero, sino también para sus carceleros (y no olvidemos que ellos también pueden ser deshumanizados por el sistema.)  Por lo tanto, les agradezco su asistencia a conferencia y por su disposición para aprender.   

Today, since it is Saturday, we remember the Blessed Virgin Mary.  May I suggest that before you enter the prison or jail you begin your visit by reciting the Memorare of St. Bernard.   

Acuérdate, o piadosísima Virgen María,
Que jamás se ha oído decir que ninguno de los que han acudido a tu protección implorando tu auxilio, haya sido desamparado.
Animado por esta confianza, a ti acudo, Madre, Virgen de las vírgenes
Y gimiendo bajo el peso de mis pecados
Me atrevo a comparecer ante ti, Madre de Dios,
No deseches mis súplicas,
Antes bien, escúchelas y acójalas benignamente.
Amén. 
 

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection,
implored Thy help or sought Thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother;
to Thee do I come, before thee I kneel, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in Thy clemency, hear and answer me.
Amen.  

Through her “yes” to God, Mary opened the doors of our world to God.  Through her intercession, she will help you bring hope to prisoners by opening the doors of their world to God. 

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