Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santo Domingo (Agenzia Fides) – From November 24-28, the city of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) will be hosting the VI Latin American and Caribbean Encounter on Prison Ministry, organized by the Department of Justice and Solidarity of the Latin American Bishops Conference (DEJUSOL – CELAM) in conjunction with the Bishops' Conference of the Dominican Republic, through the National Prison Ministry Commission. The main objective of the Encounter is to establish common guidelines for Prison Ministry, in the spirit of the Aparecida Document and the Continental Mission, so as to offer assistance to those who suffer.
Prison Ministry needs to be given more attention. The themes that will be addressed in this Encounter are: Prison Ministry in the new contexts of Latin America and the Caribbean (by Fray Arístides Jiménez, National Coordinator of Prison Ministry, founder of the Houses of the Redeemer, Dom. Rep.); Spirituality of Prison Ministry (Archbishop Emeritus Antonio Flores Santana of the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros, President of the National Commission of Prison Ministry, Dom. Rep.); Humanization and dignity of the imprisoned (Rosa Hernandez de Grullon, Member of the Prison Ministry of Dom. Rep.); Mission of the Prison Ministry in light of the Continental Mission (Fr. Jorge García Cuerva and Fr. Javier Ladrón de Guevara, Argentina); Methodology of Prison Ministry (Fr. Leonidas Ortiz, Director of the Pastoral Observatory of CELAM); The ALPHA method in prisons (Fr. Paul Cowley, Frances Ryan, and Rosa Leverit, England). There are also discussions planned on other themes: “Violence in Prisons,” “The religious phenomena in prisons,” and the last Encounter celebrated in May 2007.
Until now, there have been five Encounters: in Colombia (Bogota), Venezuela (Caracas), Panama, Bolivia (Santa Cruz de la Sierra), and Puerto Rico.
On this occasion, CELAM proposed having this Encounter take place in Santo Domingo, as the Prison Ministry in the Dominican Republic is “well organized,” where “a never-before-seen symbiosis has been established between the Church and State, in favor of those people without freedom, and this is worthy of imitation by other countries.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 24/11/2008)
