Fall
Ministries - Chaplains Shining Gods forgiveness, love through broken
lives
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Special Report Writer Danbury, Conn.
Franciscan Sr. Anne Marie Raftery
has spent most of the last decade as a chaplain at womens federal prisons
in Marianna, Fla., and now in Danbury. She has worked with women serving terms
of 25 to 40 years -- sentences nearly as long as the 38 years she has freely
given to religious life.
Although Danbury houses 1,300 inmates -- 200 over capacity -- and
has a staff of 260, Raftery is the sole chaplain to look after the religious
and spiritual needs of both groups. Besides some 400 Catholic inmates, there
are 300 to 400 Protestant women, 50 Muslims, 18 Jews, 11 Chinese Buddhists and
a few adherents of Hinduism, Rastafarianism and Native American
spirituality.
Raftery spends much time seeing inmates one-on-one and talking to
their families during their visits to the prison. The prison needs at least two
more full-time chaplains to share the work, but they must be called to
it, the nun said, adding that it is a very draining task. You are
constantly listening and you cant always meet their needs.
Many of the women are depressed when they first arrive. They
dont know how theyre going to cope or how their children will
get on in their absence. Eighty-three percent of Danburys inmates are
mothers. Many are grandmothers. They feel such helplessness and guilt
when a child is sick, the chaplain said.
I try to help them hand it over to God. She urges them
to write to their children daily. A chaplain tries to give meaningful and
effective care in a very difficult situation, Raftery said. The ministry
of caring for the spiritual and emotional needs of the incarcerated means
seeing each woman as a whole person -- as mothers, grandmothers, some with
language problems, others with handicaps and disabilities, she said.
Prison almost destroys some women, she said, but
its amazing how they learn to do time. They teach each other how to
do time.
Even those who cant be paroled learn to do time.
The prison also employs five psychologists and has a psychiatrist on call.
Often Raftery takes off her shoes and does the seven-circuit
Labyrinth Walk with inmates in the prison chapel. The walk opens with a prayer
said to the four directions, followed by a centering prayer. She asks the women
to enter a penitential rite, leaving their frustrations and worries outside the
chapel and considering instead their faith journey. Along the path to the
center of the circle the women may encounter a chaplaincy volunteer, who offers
an American Indian feather blessing to those who would like them. At the fringe
of the Labyrinth carpet, Raftery asks the women to meditate about an insight
they received on the walk. Often they leave energized, she said. The
spiritual exercise helps them to let go of negativity and anxiety and allows
God to come within.
All inmates must work. Most find employment in a small prison
factory that makes cable and electronic components for military use. They get
$1.25 to $1.44 per hour and can earn performance bonuses. Raftery hopes that
wages will rise so that the women will have more funds for child support and
restitution. About 200 of the inmates in low security work in community custody
doing landscaping, assisting in Habitat for Humanity construction projects and
even lecturing in high schools about how to avoid going to prison.
Inmates are also required to attend classes. These range from
preparation for the high school equivalency exam to college-level business and
computer courses. More than 60 percent of inmates are at Danbury for drug
offenses. Drug education programs are mandatory for these women. Those who
complete 500 hours in the drug education program can have their sentence
reduced by a year.
Prison education instills life skills, self-discipline and goal
setting, Raftery said. Recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and
Narcotics Anonymous -- while separate from chaplaincy programs -- teach
how not to be the victim, she said, adding that many inmates suffer
from multiple victimization.
To aid healing and help them regain their self-worth, the prison
holds healing retreats four times yearly. Fr. Larry Carew, a priest of the
Bridgeport, Conn., diocese, has adopted his Healing the Shepherd
retreat for ministers into a Healing the Imprisoned retreat.
Some 200 inmates attend the retreat, which is also offered in Spanish.
Raftery said the event, which ends with a healing Mass on Sunday afternoon, is
popular with Catholics and non-Catholics. It helps them get in touch with
their hurts.
Sunday Mass is well attended at the prison as is the Sunday
evening Protestant service, which also attracts many Catholics and features the
prisons Gospel Choir.
In mid-August Raftery, aided by 50 community women volunteers, ran
a four-day Kairos Retreat designed to demonstrate that the light
of Gods unconditional love and forgiveness shines through a broken life,
and can transform it, she said. The 25-year-old ministry has been used in
175 prisons in the United States, England, Ireland, South Africa and Australia.
Raftery said that Kairos is widely recognized as the most effective process
available to positively change basic attitudes of prisoners.
For the retreat, volunteers -- who worked one-on-one with 50
inmates -- trained some 40 hours before the event on such topics as The
Power of Personal Choice, Friendship with God,
Acceptance of Self and Creative Use of Anger.
The ultimate goal is to have inmates become a caring Christian
community behind bars. The women are taught how to pray and study the Bible in
small groups of twos or threes.
Warden Kim Reid introduced Kairos to Danbury after learning of it
at a wardens conference. Reid saw it as a viable religious tool to target
unchurched prisoners and to help recognize and nurture the potential leadership
and talent of inmates, Raftery said.
Reid is a strong supporter of Rafterys ministry and is eager
to hire more chaplains. To do the job, you need the heart of a
servant, she told NCR. Evidence exists at Danbury -- and at other
federal prisons where some 10,500 women are incarcerated -- that the
opportunity to practice ones religion helps women to become
rehabilitated, Reid said.
Religious practice, along with self-help education,
substance-abuse training and physical education that increases wellness and
self-esteem all contribute to an inmates improvement. When these
four are in place, we find less misbehavior, less recidivism and fewer
incidences of violence against other inmates and staff, the warden
said.
Reid called the chaplaincy a shining light. Its
chaplain, programs and religious services help inmates, who range in age from
19 to 73, to experience self-worth. The more appreciated inmates feel,
the more enhanced is our institution, Reid said, adding that treating
people as worthwhile makes for greater peace, harmony and
industriousness.
National Catholic Reporter, September 15,
2000
|