The following is the text of a letter issued on July 16 by the Bishops of Massachusetts in observance of Prison Jubilee Week
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
We are very pleased to write to you at the beginning of an historic event in which our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has invited Catholics around the world to participate: Prison Jubilee Week.
Prison Jubilee Week is an important part of the Church’s celebration of the Great Jubilee Year 2000. As Catholics, we believe that this first year of the new millennium is more than an interesting marker in the passage of time. It is the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ!
Following a tradition that began in the Old Testament and has been continued in the history of the Church, we celebrate this anniversary as an extraordinary "year of the Lord’s favor." Pope John Paul II has directed our attention to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus returns to the synagogue in Nazareth, and reads a passage from the book of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
It is our belief that this Great Jubilee Year 2000 is a powerful "year of the Lord’s favor" during which all of humanity is invited to be renewed through the grace of God.
As Catholics, we have been invited to be renewed by living this Jubilee Year as a pilgrimage—as a journey from wherever we presently stand with God and one another, toward a greater union with God and one another through Christ. This is a journey of
conversion, in which we renounce evil, turn back to the love of God, and seek reconciliation with our neighbors. This journey of conversion is a great gift to us from God, since it is the opportunity for us to be liberated from whatever darkness oppresses our lives and to live freely in the light of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are to be offered this amazing gift by our loving God!During this Prison Jubilee Week, we join the Holy Father and our brother bishops around the world in focusing in a special way on the celebration of this pilgrimage of conversion within correctional facilities. Approximately 20,000 men and women currently live in correctional facilities in Massachusetts. We write this letter to the many Catholics among them, with our prayer, our blessing, and a message of joy and hope.
Our first message to you is:
God loves you! No walls, no past or present troubles, no suffering—nothing at all—can separate you from the love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus came to reveal to all people the fullness of God’s love and the fullness of human love. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for all who seek the love, fulfillment, and peace that God created us to experience in this life and eternally. Because we know how much God loves every one of you, we encourage you to join us in embracing this Jubilee Year, by turning away from sin and renewing your commitment to the Gospel of Christ and the building of the Kingdom of God.Our second message to you is:
We love you! Just as there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God, there is nothing that can separate youfrom the communion of faith you share with your brothers and sisters who are disciples of Jesus Christ. Although you may sometimes feel that the world has forgotten you, we have not forgotten you! We hope that you already experience our fellowship with you through the ministry that is offered to you through the chaplains, pastoral ministers, and thousands of volunteers who serve the Church within the prisons in Massachusetts. We also hope that you are aware of the millions of Catholics who pray for you each day in the celebration of the Eucharist and their personal prayer.
The Jubilee Year is a time of individual conversion. It is also a communal pilgrimage, shared by all members of the Body of Christ. For that reason, we are proud to recommit ourselves to doing all we can to together deepen our lives as Christians, and to serve you through the ministry of the Church
in this new millennium.This letter is addressed primarily to our brothers and sisters who are prison inmates. We are also pleased that this letter will be shared with those who administer and staff prisons in Massachusetts. The men and women who serve in the administration of correctional facilities have been given a noble call and a great responsibility: to serve God by assisting with the care and personal formation of those who have been sentenced to prison.
We are well aware of how difficult it can be to fulfill this responsibility, especially at a time and in a nation in which the dignity of every human life is often not recognized or honored. During this Jubilee Year, we pray that the members of the administrations and staffs of the prisons in Massachusetts will also be part of our pilgrimage to the Father. May the Holy Spirit powerfully renew and reform us to build a correction system that recognizes each in-mate as a child of God, fully deserving of respect and just treatment.
Finally, we use this letter to invite all of the Catholics who live in Massachusetts to join the Holy Father and us in the celebration of this Prison Jubilee Week. During this week, many of us will visit prisons in Massachusetts to pray and meet with our brothers and sisters who are incarcerated. While most of you will not travel to prisons this week, we ask you to unite yourselves in heart, mind, and prayer with those of us who are able to do so.
Recalling Christ’s teaching in Matthew 2.5, that one of the standards by which we will be eternally judged is whether or not we visited Him when He was in prison, we remind you of our shared responsibility to assist in prayer and deed all who are imprisoned. In our society, we hear many voices calling for the harsh treatment. shunning, and even capital punishment of those who have received criminal convictions. In the midst of those voices, we remind you of the voice of Christ, constantly calling us to be instruments of mercy forgiveness, and healing.
We ask you to join us in building a Church in Massachusetts that is truly a sign of unity and an instrument of the peace of Christ, sharing with our brothers and sisters in prison the love, reconciliation, and new life that God offers us through Christ.
Asking God to bless you, your families, and those whom you love, we are
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Bernard Cardinal Law,
Archbishop of BostonMost Reverend Daniel Reilly,
Bishop of WorcesterMost Reverend Sean
O’Malley, OFM Cap, Bishop of Fall RiverMost Reverend Thomas Dupre,
Bishop of Springfield