Finding a community, and a safe place to be accepted, is one of the greatest desires of those who leave prison, said Joseph Beaman, who recently was released after serving more than 10 years and spoke at the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s 11th annual Reentry Conference, Resource and Job Fair.
A record 900-plus people attended the Sept. 8 conference aimed at helping those released from prison or jail, the families of those incarcerated, and crime victims and homicide survivors. The conference, organized by the Archdiocesan Restorative Justice Ministry, was held at St. Mary’s Cathedral Event Center.
During his time in prison, Beaman converted to the Catholic faith. “When I least expected it, God showed me the most grace,” said Beaman, who became involved in the San Quentin chapel ministry, taught catechism and sang in the choir. He lives in post-prison supportive housing, and is enrolled at San Francisco State University where he is upgrading his technical computer skills.
“You learn how valuable community is when you are away from the community you know,” said Beaman, who was one of several speakers on the Faith After Incarceration panel chaired by San Quentin State Prison chaplain Father George Williams, S.J.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone opened the day’s activities with a prayer for healing and God’s grace and expressed gratitude for all who work for the restoration of peace and healing.
“Help us to heal and restore life and happiness to our communities,” the Archbishop prayed. “Help us all to be your hands, your instruments, so that we may all walk in your life and eventually reach the light of your eternal kingdom.”
This year’s conference included a jobs fair organized by Goodwill SF Bay and Success Centers, a criminal record expungement clinic staffed the SF Public Defender’s office, as well as more than 75 tables with information on nonprofits whose missions are to help formerly incarcerated and victims of crime.
The event is part of the Archdiocesan Restorative Justice Ministry, which includes prayers on the street for homicide victims, outreach to those incarcerated in the jails and juvenile hall, and the Excell Network Reentry Scholarship Program.
Among the 925 people who attended were 36 family member survivors of homicide victims, 87 family members with a loved one incarcerated, 288 formerly incarcerated, 25 formerly incarcerated who were survivors of violence. Fifty employers sent representatives, 50 people were enrolled in job trainings, and as many as 100 people were expected to get jobs from the conference, said Julio Escobar, Restorative Justice Ministry coordinator who organized the conference.
The conference was the most well-attended in its 11 years, said Escobar. Its unique blend of resources of all kinds for formerly incarcerated, acknowledgement of families who are affected by violence and crime, and having a jobs fair is drawing more people, he said.
He noted that one young man, Diego Martinez, 19, traveled by Greyhound bus from Orange County after being released from incarceration the previous Friday. The team helped him write a resume, learn about resources to support him, and helped him write his application to transfer his case from Orange County to San Francisco, Escobar said….
From the San Francisco archdiocese
Absolutely beautiful work!
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.“
If these guys stay clean and employed a year later, I’ll agree.
One thing is sure, without ministries like this, the odds of success are next to zero. And these ministries may be the only thing standing between you and a released convict victimizing you, so support them any way you can.
that’s just a variant of, “if we don’t support trans kids they will kill themselves.” not falling for it.
For sure. It is better that we the Church do this and reach out instead of some welfare program initiated by some political hick in the leftist bureaucracy. I don’t understand why there’s so much opposition to this, because if we let these criminals to these government-run programs, the chances of them being turned back into menaces of society will be higher, and this time they’ll spread leftist ideals. But to depend on the Church is to depend on Christ, and this way, they’ll be exposed to the gifts of the Church and learn more about it.
It’s a way of catechesis, in my opinion, and it’s better for the Church to do these things- maybe with a small or medium or even large degree of temporal failure- than not at all.
For once, we stand on common ground.
Good job, Archdiocese and Archbishop. May other dioceses offer similar.
I would not be comfortable having family members too close to any potentially violent or untrustworthy ex-cons. Those people are not normal– and their pasts are deliberately hidden. They would require special types of supervision, for housing and employment– to ensure public safety. How do the crime victims feel about that? What special privileges are given to crime victims? Do they feel safe? American communities in today’s troubled, crime-riddden world, are unprepared for this.
That is a good point. This conference is really a good thing but yes, more can be done for crime victims and others impacted.
They’re safer than the ones you have no idea about. And there are a lot more of those….
No. The pasts of these ex-cons are deliberately hidden. All for their own needs– the public has no knowledge about their pasts, and no protection. They could end up living next door to you and your innocent wife and children, or next door to your innocent, elderly parents. They could be hired to work in your children’s schools or preschools, or in your mom or grandma’s nursing home.
Perfect is the enemy of good! This may not be a perfect solution to the problem, but it is a good try. Give it a chance.
So-called “perfection?” Who cares about that? Protect your wife and children, your grandchildren, and elderly parents, Bob One. These ex-cons are being reintegrated into society without precautions and supervision, and common sense limits to their activities and privileges. These are not normal, trustworthy citizens. And you won’t know the background of who is being hired to work at your grandchild’s preschool, or your mother’s nursing home. You won’t know who is in your wife’s workplace, if she works. You won’t know who is living next door to you. Will a compassionate Catholic bishop or archbishop possibly hire one of them– like poor Bishop David O’Connell– and end up being found brutally murdered?
No. The pasts of these ex-cons are deliberately hidden. All for their own needs– the public has no knowledge about their pasts, and no protection. They could end up living next door to you and your innocent wife and children, or next door to your innocent, elderly parents. They could be hired to work in your children’s schools or preschools, or in your mom or grandma’s nursing home.
“Those who are generous should not ask for an account of the poor’s conduct, but only improve their condition of poverty and satisfy their need. The poor have only one plea: their poverty and the condition of need in which they find themselves. Do not ask anything else of them; but even if they are the most wicked persons in the world, if they lack the necessary nourishment, let us free them from hunger. … The merciful are like a harbour for those in need: the harbour welcomes and frees from danger all those who are shipwrecked; whether they are evildoers, good persons, or whatever they may be, the harbour shelters them within its inlet. You, too, therefore, when you see on land a man or a woman who has suffered the shipwreck of poverty, do not judge, do not ask for an account of their conduct, but deliver them from their misfortune” St. John Chrysostom (Discourses on the Poor Man Lazarus, II, 5).