Training open for post- prison ministry mentors
To the Editor:
Scripture teaches us to visit and help those in prison. This is more than a suggestion, but a necessary and authentic way of experiencing Christ. (See Matt 25:25-36; Hebrews 13:3.) Over the past several months, Paul Alagna of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bettendorf and I have been volunteering with the Safer Foundation and Iowa’s Judicial District 7 to mentor an individual recently released from prison.
We have learned an incredible amount about the challenges such people face, from financial burdens to social stigma. Healthy reintegration into society can be aided by mentors, who help create a positive influence and provide emotional support and encouragement.
The Safer Foundation is holding training for new mentors on Aug. 30. For more information, please call Joshua Stanger at (563) 484-5784. This experience is more than charity, but a genuine encounter that will change you for the better. To quote Pope Francis: “The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction. True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness.”
Micah Kiel
St. John Vianney Parish, Bettendorf
