The following appeared February 15 on the website of the California Catholic Conference.
The following California State Prisons have immediate openings for a Catholic Chaplain.
Qualified Candidates are lay persons, religious, deacons and priests with demonstrated detention facility pastoral competence who are in good standing with the church and must be endorsed by the Bishop of the Diocese in which the institution is located. Bilingual (English/Spanish) is preferred.
The chaplain is an employee of the State of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Candidates are evaluated by an Associate Warden of the facility and by the local Diocesan Restorative Justice Director.
In collaboration with the local diocese, the Chaplain helps prisoners with moral and spiritual issues; conducts religious services; arranges for and (if qualified) administers sacraments, organizes and instructs religious classes; coordinates Catholic volunteers to assist in carrying out the duties; makes visits to sick and segregated prisoners; and must be willing to function in a multi-denominational / multi-religious manner. Job specification, duty statement, and salary and benefit information are available upon request.
Diocese of Santa Rosa:
Pelican Bay State Prison, Crescent City
Level 4 maximum security prison, with a Secure Housing Unit, located 13 miles from the Oregon/California Border.
Diocese of San Bernardino:
Ironwood State Prison, Blythe
Level 3 medium security prison, located in the Riverside County desert, approximately 2 hours west of Phoenix and 2 hours east of Palm Springs
Diocese of San Diego:
Centinela State Prison, Imperial
Level 4 maximum security prison, located in central Imperial County desert.
Diocese of Monterey:
Salinas Valley State Prison, Soledad
Level 4 maximum security prison, located in the Salinas Valley, 1.5 hours south of San Jose.
Send resume with three references with current phone numbers to: dmcdermott@cacatholic.org or by mail to Debbie McDermott, Director, Restorative Justice, California Catholic Conference, 1119 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
To read original posting, click here.
All who can afford it should donate “Catholic Bibles” and “Catechisms of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” to the prisons in their own State.
Prisoners have plenty of time to read.
Comforting the imprisoned is a Corporal Work of Mercy.
We all must work to save Souls. This is true love of neighbor, as commanded by Jesus.
good luck with that! “Catholic” bibles are seen as discrimination, not “multi-denominational” And don’t even consider handing out rosaries even if they are counted and returned after praying together….thats gang related and banded in most prisons.
alice, all Bibles say the same thing about sodomy.
Under freedom of religion, a state may not tell a prisoner that he can not have a Bible, or the Quran, etc.
They may not tell a prisoner that he can not have a catechism.
They may not tell a prisioner (unless in solitary confinement) that he may not attend religious services.
As noted, the Catholic Chaplains are employees of the state of California. Besides, do we trust the Bishops’ judgements in the assignment of priests?
Wow I didn’t know that we left these decision to the state? So weird.
“Lay employees screening Catholic chaplains for Calif. prisons?”
AND???
The headline implies that mere lay people should not be ‘screening’ Catholic chaplains, which is just plain silly, as the hierarchy’s record of ‘screening’ people has not been terrific.
Also, some chaplains will end up BEING lay people, because are more suited to some of the tasks, and because we don’t have gobs of priests now a days, and because that’s just fine.
Amen to the importance of helping prisoners, and to help with that, our California-based apostolate, The Lampstand Foundation, has published a book, The Lampstand Prison Ministry: Constructed on Catholic Social Teaching & the History of the Catholic Church.
More information is available on our website, www[dot]lampstandfoundation[dot]org.
Mr. Lukenbill is a prodigious blogger, with a WordPress.com blog “The Catholic Eye”.