Good Stuff In TEC: Florida

Innovative prison program being launched

Marking a new vision for prison ministry nationwide, the Episcopal Diocese of Florida will be celebrating a landmark collaboration on April 16 with the non-profit Prisoners of Christ.
The celebration will be led by Bishop Samuel Johnson Howard. All those interested in prison ministry across northern Florida are invited to gather to dedicate this flagship ministry at 7 p.m. at the Church of the Nativity, 8373 Normandy Blvd., on Jacksonville's west side. A reception on site will follow the dedication and celebration co-hosted by the diocese and POC.

The dedication and celebration of this new ministry will highlight the recently-formed partnership between Prisoners of Christ (POC) and the extensive prison ministry of the diocese. Hosting the event are Episcopal clergy and lay people involved in prison ministry within the Diocese's 25 north Florida counties.

"This is the first of its kind," Howard noted. "Now, in addition to working behind bars in the 30 prisons in the diocese, we have an opportunity --between Prisoners of Christ and the diocese -- to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those ex-offenders and their families, and to continue to minister to the families of those still incarcerated." POC president Wesley Paxson Sr. and executive director Dan Palmer echoed and affirmed Howard's sentiments.

The innovative and visionary approach of this partnership allows Prisoners of Christ to use the parish hall facilities of Jacksonville's Church of the Nativity (Episcopal) as POC headquarters, while the church itself is staffed by prison ministry volunteers, both lay and clergy. This combination of prison ministry and programs, sharing the Church of the Nativity campus while serving incarcerated and former prisoners as well as the families of prisoners, is the first of its kind in The Episcopal Church.

http://www.staugustine.com/stories/040309/religion_040309_014.shtml

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