As part of our work with prisoners and their families, we are pleased to announce that we are working on a new project to develop parish volunteering with chaplaincies, prisoners and ex-prisoners.
Along with Monsignor Roger Reader, Catholic Bishops’ Prisons Adviser and HMPS/NOMS* Catholic Faith Adviser, and the social research firm Lemos&Crane, we are working on a project to support the development and rehabilitation of prisoners and ex-offenders. Our aim is to link prisoners to parishes, faith groups, mentoring schemes including those run by PACT, and community chaplaincies. We will release further details of the project in due course.
This project comes out of the partnership between the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) and Lemos&Crane, who have been researching prisoners’ perspectives on spirituality and their experience of prison chaplaincy. The result is the first ever report on the spiritual beliefs and practices of Catholic prisoners, which has been welcomed by His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols. Published in April 2016, the report contains suggestions for chaplains on linking prisoners to parishes and community faith groups, allowing them to support prisoners’ rehabilitation and help ex-offenders to turn their lives around.
Follow the link to download the report for free: Belief and Belonging: The spiritual and pastoral role of Catholic chaplains for Catholic prisoners.
*Her Majesty's Prison Service/National Offender Management Service
