By Theresa Alessandro
I am working my way through the new document, A Synodal Church in Mission: Synthesis Report, produced from the recent ‘conversations in the Spirit’ in Rome. For those of us engaging in social justice work, these words resonate: ‘Either we see God’s Reign in the things of this world, or we will never see it.’
Pact is the national Catholic charity supporting people in prison, and their children and families. What are the ‘things of this world’ in relation to our criminal justice system? This weekend we begin Advent, a time of waiting in hope. While there is so much to feel unsettled about in our world, where are signs of hope that can point us towards ‘seeing God’s Reign’?
Close to record numbers of people will spend Christmas inside this year – and a record 100,000 children across England & Wales will spend Christmas without mum or dad because they are in prison. There are a variety of reasons why Christmas is a tough, perhaps hopeless, time for some of us. For families affected by imprisonment and for their loved ones locked up on Christmas Day, it can be especially hard to look forward with hope.
Last year, Pact helped ‘Kelly’ send small Christmas gifts to her three daughters at very short notice after she had been unexpectedly transferred from one prison to another in the middle of December. Kelly had been distraught lest her children think she had forgotten them. She told the Pact member of staff: “You’re a Godsend. Thank you.”
While politicians strive to outdo each other in being ‘tough on crime,’ Pact aims to accompany our brothers and sisters in prison and their families. Pact staff and volunteers, alongside prison staff, chaplains, and family members themselves, make huge efforts to try to ensure that people in prison, and their children and loved ones, can share in the hope and joy of Christmas somehow.
The synodal document says that people in prison ‘need to experience the merciful love of the Lord and to not feel isolated from the community.’ There is hope in knowing that, supporting the year-round work of prison chaplains, many of our bishops will quietly visit prisons over Christmas to celebrate Mass with men and women inside.
Pact organises Christmas Family Visit days in over 60 prisons where we provide ‘Family Services’. These are special visits where children can play with their mum or dad – instead of remaining seated across the table from them in the prison’s Visits Hall. They can eat together, like families do at Christmas. They can work on Christmas craft projects and have fun. One dad reported after a Pact Family Day: “Just for a little while, I forgot I was in prison.”
The synodal document reminds us that ‘in the simplest gestures by which we open ourselves to one another, the breath of the Spirit genuinely breathes.’ Can this be what Pact volunteers mean when they report getting ‘more back than I give’?
Pact’s work supporting the children and families of those in prison promotes the common good. When family ties are strengthened and supported where appropriate, the chance of someone returning to crime on release from prison is reduced by 39%. Pact’s work shares hope and it makes communities safer.
Stand in solidarity with prisoners and their families, alongside Pact staff and volunteers, at a Pact Carol Service – in London and Birmingham. Let us ‘see God’s Reign in the things of this world.’
Visit the Pact website here: www.prisonadvice.org.uk
Picture
Family Visit Day at Christmas at a prison in Arundel and Brighton diocese