For former inmates, returning to society comes with challenges

March 29, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Washington D.C., Mar 29, 2018 / 04:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- For the fourth time in his pontificate, Pope Francis will wash the feet of inmates at a prison on Holy Thursday this year.

The pope, who will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Regina Coeli prison in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood, has previously spoken of the importance of reintegrating former prisoners back into society.

In the United States, 65 million people have a criminal record, which can limit access to employment, housing, and education, according to James Ackerman, the president and CEO of Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest Christian ministry serving prisoners.

“Nearly 700,000 men and women will return to our communities this year alone. Thus, it is smart…for us to implement a more restorative approach for to criminal justice, re-entry, and, in particular, employment for people with a criminal record,” said Ackeman at a prison reform panel at the National Press Club on March 28.

Lily Gonzalez was one of the panelists at the “Second Chances: Removing Barriers to Returning Citizens” event. She shared the difficulties she faced in pursuing an education after being released from prison, in which she spent extensive time in solitary confinement.

Homeboy Industries, a ministry founded by a Jesuit priest, Father Greg Boyle, helped her through their “pathways to college program.”

“It really did take a village,” reflected Gonzalez, who said that the generosity of others helped her pay for her books and parking. However, she continued to face obstacles due to her criminal record after she graduated from college.

“I had a bachelor degree and no one wanted to hire me,” she said.

This barrier to employment and other necessities to reintegrate into society can often feel like a “second prison” after one has served their time, according to Ackerman. A conviction can become a life sentence to joblessness, which can increase the likelihood of future arrests.

This issue has led several U.S. states pass laws that “Ban the Box,” which prevents inquiries about someone’s criminal record on initial job applications, postponing the inquiries until later in the application process.

“I think that when you have a box on the application you are asking the person, ‘Tell me about the worst thing that you have ever done in your life,’ and then as a recruiter I’m going to judge you based on that. I wouldn’t ask anyone that, and I don’t need to know that at that point in the process,” said a human resources executive with Butterball Farms, Bonnie Mroczek.

She shared the positive results Butterball has seen hiring former inmates.

“We’ve been hiring returning citizens for 23 years. We’ve had tons of success with it and we are sharing information with other companies about the success that we’ve had,” she said.

“In states and localities where there has been an evaluation of Ban the Box programs, we see that there is about a 40% increase in people with records getting hired as a result of simply postponing an inquiry about their record,” added Judy Conti, who is the federal advocacy coordinator at the National Employment Law Project.

“If you haven’t met me, you haven’t had a chance to talk to me and get to know who I am,” said Dennis Avila, one of the former prisoners who shared his story.

“I have convictions that involve drugs and firearms … If you just look at some of the worst things that I have done, you would just think that I was this crazy person, which isn’t true at all …coming out of prison and trying to get a job to sustain me and my family was really really hard.”

Avila had a son when he was convicted, and he was not alone in that fact. There are 2.7 million children in the U.S. with a parent in prison, according to Prison Fellowship.

Avila eventually went on to found his own nonprofit organization that uses music to positively impact people from challenging backgrounds and circumstances.

“We are proud that today a full 25% of our field staff are people who were once caught up in the cycle of crime and incarceration, but today are now part of the cycle of renewal,” shared the CEO of Christian Prison Fellowship, who spoke of the importance of engaging prisoners in “a dignified manner and help them to become healthier and more productive citizens.”

Prison Fellowship is currently active in 428 prisons across the country. According to their website, the ministry is “founded on the conviction that all people are created in God’s image and that no life is beyond God’s reach. As Christians, we believe that Jesus – Himself brought to trial, executed, buried, and brought to life again – offers hope, healing, and a new purpose for each life. He can make even the most broken people and situations whole again.”

The fellowship was founded in 1976 by Charles Colson in 1976 after he served seven months prison for his involvement in Watergate as a former aid to President Richard Nixon.

Colson rediscovered his faith during his time in prison. In a book entitled “Loving God: The Cost of Being a Christian,” Colson wrote the following about founding a prison ministry that has impacted the lives of thousands of people:

“My life of success was not what made this morning so glorious — all my achievements meant nothing in God’s economy. No, the real legacy of my life was my biggest failure — that I was an ex-convict. My greatest humiliation — being sent to prison — was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life; He chose the one thing in which I could not glory for His glory.”

 

 

 

 

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Teacher completes walking pilgrimage to California’s 21 missions

June 28, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Denver Newsroom, Jun 28, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- A Catholic teacher who finished a pilgrimage to the Spanish Missions in California this week has emphasized his devotion to the first missions’ founder, St. Junipero Serra, and their influence on him as an educator.

Over the last two years, with a total of 45 days of walking, theology teacher Christian Clifford has trekked the California El Camino Real trail connecting all 21 missions. He finished the 781-mile pilgrimage June 22.

He told CNA that it has been an opportunity to walk in the shoes of the 18th-century friars, such as Serra, and to grow in virtues relevant to his experience as a teacher.

“I started visiting the missions and I really fell in love with them. I immerse[d] myself in learning more about it in the process. I [began] a real deep relationship with Junipero Serra,” he said.

“Those friars must have been very patient because they sacrificed a lot,” he added.

After he began teaching theology at Serra High School in San Mateo, he decided to learn more about the school’s patron and drove to the state’s 21 missions.

During this time, he authored three books about Spanish-Mexican history in California to help high school students understand the beautiful life of the missionary friars. One of the books, “Saint Junipero Serra: Making Sense of the History and Legacy,” tackles the controversial opinions of Serra, who is sometimes scrutinized by secular groups for his participation in Spanish colonialism.

“Saint Junipero Serra is such an amazing thing here. For those that don’t know him, his life has been under a magnifying glass for a long time. We know so much about him … He can teach us so many things about being courageous evangelizers,” he said.

In May 2018, he began his pilgrimage on foot, starting at the northernmost mission in Sonoma, Mission San Francisco Solano, and made his way south to Petaluma in the North Bay. He said it was difficult, especially the first day, and even dangerous at times, as he had to walk along highways.

“I thought I prepared myself, got all my bag together,” he said. “By the time I reached my hotel, I thought I was going to die. My blisters were horrible, I had the wrong shoes. But, what happens is over time, you speak with other people and you learn new tricks. By the end of it, I was very comfortable, even in difficult situations,” he said.

A majority of the miles were covered last year, which marked the 75th anniversary of Serra High School and the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the first California mission in San Diego.

Clifford’s last portion was 138 miles from Mission San Fernando to Mission Santa Ines, in which he also visited Mission San Buenaventura and Mission Santa Barbara. He ended his journey marking the fifth anniversary of Serra’s canonization.

He said it has been a positive influence on his role as a teacher and a person, helping him grow in virtue and undergo similar experiences the friars went through. He said that during this year’s difficulties the pilgrimage helped him be patient with and understand students who were struggling.

“I think the thing that I learned the most is patience. So I try to be a more patient person with my students and my family life,” he said.

“I think in my life as a professional in particular, I need to be a little more patient with the young men that I teach, a little more understanding.”

He said the major goals of the pilgrimage were to draw attention to the holiness of Serra, and to raise awareness of the Mission San Antonio de Padua, which is struggling financially to meet earthquake codes required by the government.

“The Mission Saint Anthony of Padua is first of all, really cool, because it’s the most isolated mission out of the 21, and it’s located on a military base, but you don’t need base access … You’re literally walking back in time when you go there,” he said.

“I created a Go Fund Me … So overall [I raised] $1500, $1,600. But, I’m hoping that just by doing [the pilgrimage] more people go out there and visit it because it’s so remote.”

He expressed the importance for Californians to understand the Catholic roots of the state, pointing to the significance of the names of cities, like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. He said this rich history has meaning to not only the faith but practical arts like farming and ranching.

“The Catholic roots, all you have to do is look around right,” he said. “You can argue the El Camino Real path [is] probably based on Indian trails [and] it links to these major cities – San Francisco, the city of Saint Francis; San Jose, the city of Saint Joseph; Los Angeles, the city of angels … so these major population centers are all basically where the missions once were,” he said.

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