By Carmel Dominic
PENANG — The prison ministry in the Diocese of Penang began 10 years ago, in June 2014, when one man, who was very moved by the Gospel text in Matthew 25:35-36, began to reflect and question what he had done for our brothers and sisters who were incarcerated.
Thus, he embarked on a mission to start a ministry to reach out to them after consulting the Archdiocese of KL’s Prison Ministry. In 10 years, the Penang Diocese Prison Ministry (PDPM), which began as a humble group of five, has now grown to 180 members from various parishes in the diocese. Though not all parishes have a prison ministry, those interested to join can approach the members of the PDPM and be included in their rotation roster.
There are two prisons in Penang – a remand prison on the island for men and a co-ed prison in Jawi. Ministry members make weekly visits to the juvenile detention centre in Sungai Petani, as well as weekly visits to the other two prisons. One of the pioneering members of the PDPM, Regina Xavier, who is also now a faith sharer, shared her experience serving in this ministry for the past 10 years at a Lenten Campaign event for the PDPM at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on March 17.
“Firstly, we don’t call them inmates or delinquents. We call them clients because we want to show respect and dignity to our sisters and brothers. They live in such deplorable conditions. Their cells are crowded, with six to seven people living in close quarters and only a common bucket as a toilet. Imagine sometimes when the bucket accidentally gets tipped over. And more often than not, they food that they get is rather basic. Some of them have even been disowned by their families. Considering all of these conditions, we, as faith sharers from PDPM have one goal – to let them know that their past doesn’t define them, that there is always hope and that no matter what they have done, Jesus loves them,” Regina said.
She went on to say that serving in this ministry has taught her humility and compassion because she realised that they are people just like us who have hit a bump in the road in life. The role of a faith sharer is not to find out why they were there but, rather, to help them find purpose and meaning in life that will hopefully add value and contribute to their lives once they have been released. She added that some clients had joined the RCIA after being released and were baptised.
“We first started off just visiting the prisons, but as time went by, we realised that the youths in the detention centre also needed support, so we branched out to include them. Then, we realised that the client’s family also needed support and we extended our outreach efforts to them too. Now, there are a handful of faith sharers who go the extra mile and help our released clients get jobs and check in on them at their workplace from time to time. We are blessed to have so many passionate members in this ministry. We also face many struggles and challenges from various quarters while serving, but, praise God, we manage to overcome every issue through prayer and supplication,” Regina said as she ended the sharing.
There was also a soap moulding workshop and a donation drive that took place for the clients. A total of 15kg of herbal soap was made and will be distributed to the two adult prisons after the Easter Mass that will be held in the prisons in mid-April. The Share a Meal, an awareness programme, is a special donation drive that creates awareness among parishioners about the PDPM and their efforts while allowing parishioners to contribute a minimum of RM10 so that ministry members can organise a special meal for the clients in conjunction with Easter. A total of RM7,000 was collected from the awareness programme that will be used to feed the clients in the 10 prisons throughout the diocese. Each meal will consist of rice, sides, fruit, kueh and a drink. The faith sharers will join in the festivities with the clients for Easter.
The PDPM will celebrate its 10th anniversary on June 29 at the Minor Basilica of St Anne, with a Eucharistic celebration to be presided over by Cardinal Sebastian Francis.
