As the Church in England and Wales marks Prisoners’ Sunday, Catholics are invited to support inmates and all those affected by imprisonment.
By Linda Bordoni
On 12 October, the Catholic Church in England and Wales observes Prisoners’ Sunday, an occasion that opens Prisons Week — a week dedicated to prayer and reflection for prisoners, their families, victims of crime, prison staff and all who work in the criminal justice system.
Rooted in the Christian call to compassion and solidarity, Prisoners’ Sunday invites the faithful to look beyond prison walls and to consider how, as individuals, communities, and Church, they can support those affected by imprisonment.
“Prisoners’ Sunday is an opportunity to consider how we, as individuals, as a Church, and as communities, are serving our brothers and sisters affected by imprisonment,” explains Sarah Young, a spiritual director and retreat giver with the Jesuit Institute in the UK.
Sarah works within the Jesuit Institute’s prison ministry, which has grown steadily in recent years to bring Ignatian spirituality into prisons across the country. She spoke to Vatican Radio on the eve of Prisoners’ Sunday to share insights from her ministry and to highlight the significance of this day.
A ministry born in difficult times
The Jesuit Institute’s involvement in prisons increased substantially during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period that isolated many communities and placed an extraordinary strain on prison chaplaincies.
“We felt that prison chaplains needed some support,” Sarah recalls. “So we offered a retreat online for prison chaplains. They appreciated that very much and were saying, ‘We’d really like this for our men or our women in the prisons.’”
Encouraged by that response, the team began developing a dedicated prisons project, offering retreats inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. These retreats are adapted to the particular environment of each prison — taking into account its security level, chaplaincy resources, and the needs of those inside.
“We go in either for a week, maybe even just for a day, and offer a retreat,” Sarah explains. “Sometimes it’s more in a workshop form, teaching ways of praying. Sometimes we can do one-to-one work, taking individual prisoners through a week of prayer.”
The transformative power of listening
Over time, the ministry has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both chaplains and prisoners. Many participants arrive carrying heavy burdens of anxiety, confusion, or despair, especially those new to the prison environment.
“They’ve often gone through a time of great chaos and unclear thinking,” Sarah says. “They felt they’d been received in a non-judgmental way, that we simply meet them as people, and that they have felt listened to. Often they say that they emerge from the retreats feeling more hopeful, that they can see a way forward, even while they might still have long prison sentences to serve.”
This focus on hope is particularly meaningful in 2025, the Jubilee of Hope, during which the late Pope Francis placed strong emphasis on the inclusion of prisoners , opening a Holy Door at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and dedicating the final days of this Jubilee year to prisoners.
“These are people we don’t forget,” Sarah reflects. “We hold hope for them and for the future. It’s important to go to those on the margins. We literally enter through their door in order to be with them in their context, while holding hope that eventually they are going to walk out of those doors and carry on with life in a better way.”
Encountering God in unexpected places
For Vron Smith, who also works with the Jesuit Institute, the heart of the ministry lies in encountering God in unexpected places and accompanying people as they discover their own dignity.
“One of the things we are privileged to see as we walk alongside people is seeing what God does when God is given that opportunity to love somebody and for them to receive it,” Vron says. “When people know they are deeply loved by God, something can shift and change within them.”
The Jesuit Institute seeks to integrate spiritual formation with rehabilitation. “It’s not simply just what we offer,” Vron explains. “It’s also alongside what the prison is trying to do for the people in there. We are alongside them in a way that hopefully allows God to become more present for those people there, and then it’s for them to respond to God in a way that is most helpful for them.”
In a world where prisoners are often forgotten or marginalised, this ministry offers a rare space of genuine human encounter.
“Prisons can be seen as places where there is no hope, no light, no possibility of something else,” Vron notes. “To be able to offer that space where God can be met is vital — especially for those people who are hidden away and for most people will never come to mind.”
Families also serve a ‘sentence’
Both Sarah and Vron highlight that imprisonment affects not only the individual but also their families.
“Something we often hear when we close a retreat is that prisoners will say, ‘Please don’t pray for me, pray for my mum, pray for my sister,’” Sarah says. “Their families are also serving a sort of sentence.”
She said that the Jesuit Institute is currently exploring collaboration with Pact, a Catholic charity that supports prisoners’ families, to extend its pastoral care to those outside prison walls.
Hope at the heart of the Jubilee
The theme of hope, central to this Jubilee Year, resonates deeply in prison ministry, Vron agrees: “We’ve been trying to hold up hope in this year in the prisons we’ve gone into.”
“The prisoners are also still part of the Church. They have a role to play. They are part of the Body of Christ that we’re all part of, and they have things to offer to it. Even the simple act of praying for others is a way for them to remain connected.,” she says.
A call to prayer and support
All of the Jesuit Institute’s prison work is offered free of charge, relying on donations and prayer to sustain its activities, Vron explains: “Prison chaplaincies don’t get funded very much at all and can’t afford to pay for the kind of work we do.”
“We go in and tell them, ‘We will do this for nothing.’ But it also means that it’s really helpful for us if there are people who can offer money, donations, or prayer, so that this work can continue,” she adds.
Donations can be made via the Jesuit Institute website, but both Sarah and Vron stress that prayer is equally essential.
“I think first and foremost, pray for prisoners and their families,” Sarah urges. “And remember that there’s not a massive difference between us and them. Sometimes people make big mistakes, but they remain human and need our prayers.”
A ministry of quiet presence
The Jesuit Institute’s prison ministry continues to grow through word of mouth, ecumenical cooperation, and the trust built with chaplains and inmates alike. It is, in many ways, a quiet ministry — one that unfolds behind closed doors, away from public attention, but deeply rooted in the Gospel call to solidarity with those on the margins.
“Thank you to those people who are paying attention and listening,” Vron says in closing. “Please pray for the project, pray for those in prison and their relatives. And if there is a way that you can offer some kind of donation to allow God’s presence in prisons to grow, we would be really grateful and thankful.”
For more information, visit the Jesuit Institute’s Prison ministry, and to offer your support, click here.
