The Impact of Chaplaincy with Chum

by Kathryn Bell

I love spending my days with inmates.  I have the privilege of spending time with them at the St. Louis County Jail where I am the Chaplain.  During my three days a week there I provide Christian worship for five different units, give spiritual care and books for all religious expressions, hold many conversations about life in general, and I also lead a group for those with both PTSD and substance-abuse.  I’m not sure I’ve ever done anything so holy.

Our dominant culture tells us to be afraid of those incarcerated.  To send them away and not have them as part of our communities.  I find them to be exceptional people worthy of love.  They expand my understanding of the unconditional love of the Divine, compassion, scripture, human nature and the pain that can be endured and passed on – or not.  While I understand that manipulation is common within these walls, I find this is the most real and honest place I’ve ever been.  The privilege of pretending has been taken away.  Human brokenness is the start from which we work together to rebuild.

When I started here I presumed that churches would ask me what they could do to be helpful – how they could fulfill the mandate in Matthew 25 to visit those in prison.  Jail visitation restrictions are tight, so I kept thinking of ideas.  But no one has actually asked me what they could do to help.  May I share my ideas with you now?  I encourage all of us who can to stop just pulling the bodies out of the river but to go upstream to address where the histories of incarceration are coming from.  Almost every single inmate I have worked with here experienced a great deal of childhood trauma.  I invite us all to search in and beyond our own congregations for children who might be falling behind in school and give them love and attention through tutoring or community outreach.  Where are parents needing formula, diapers, food and other necessities for their children, and how can we assist?  How can we intervene before the trauma turns into addiction or passing on pain and struggles?

The scriptures are full of incredibly broken people whom God still loves beyond reason and uses to further God’s plans.  I love being able to tell people that they are still loved, can still come back into relationship, and that God has not and will not ever give up on them.