As this article notes, “Prisoners of minority faiths in federal penitentiaries will have to turn to Christian ministers in 2013.”
Anglican priest, Rev. David Price is unhappy with that since, horror of horrors, wiccans could be converted to Christianity. Where is the diversity and inclusion in that?
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has announced the cancellation of the contracts of all part-time non-Christian chaplains ministering in federal prisons across Canada. The cuts take effect as of the end of March 2013.
After that date, penitentiary inmates of minority faiths, from Buddhists to Wiccans, will have to rely on full-time Christian chaplains for interfaith services, religious counsel and spiritual guidance.
“I could never pretend to be Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Sikh and tend to the spiritual needs of all these different people,” says the Rev. David Price, an Anglican priest in Agassiz, B.C., who spent many years as a prison chaplain in the west. In his view, prison chaplains are essential and cost-effective “midwives” who help offenders give birth to new selves and new lives before they are released back into society.
And other faiths do not reguard this as part of their mission, unless of course they have a contract.
I do agree with Rev. Price in that Christian chaplains will be expected to compromise their faith to cater other faiths.
I don’t agree that Muslim inmates, or other inmates who are involved in non-Christian religions, will have to make do with a Christian chaplain. A prison chaplain can pass along an inmates request, say, for a visit from a Muslim person or a Muslim official from the community. And the chaplain can arrange for such a person to come to the prison institution, and make a visit (or several). This would occur on a volunteer basis, i.e. no payment. Prison chaplains have for many years been expected to respond to such requests from any inmate (Christian or other). Chaplains are expected to screen and supervise volunteer visiters (Christian or otherwise). The few chaplains I’ve met were very professional, well trained persons. So, sure the part-time paid Muslim chaplain may have provided steady, quick service. Vic Toews though, is reverting to how things were done, and done for many years, a hit and miss, or by special request, type of service.
If they are allowed to do that again it would work. We visit a youth prison that once had a Wiccan chaplain and she got very angry at us for delivering a Christian message during a chapel service. We ignored her and continued to share the Gospel on subsequent visits. Sadly there is no chaplain there now as it was privatized and the first thing to go as a cost-cutting measure was the chaplain. We continue to visit but it doesn’t make up for a full time on-site chaplain. Plus a lot of the volunteer activities – such as one-on-one visits have stopped because there is now no one to organize them. This was a great tool to help these kids and we saw lives changed through these visits.