Letters

With Gratitude

Posted

To the Editor:

A group of men at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon would like to publicly thank the men who came to the prison to bring Christ to them behind the razor-topped fences for a weekend called Residents Encounter Christ (REC). It was a time of laughs, tears, testimonies and worship that will stay with many of them for years to come.

This was the 55th REC weekend held in this place where few people wish to visit and most seldom think about. Emotions run high. Not anger, but sorrow, pain, laughter and love. Stories of lost love, lost family members, and guilty feelings often come out. When these feelings are finally released, the tears often flow freely and openly. Through acts of contrition, repentance and reconciliation, these sons, fathers, husbands and brothers struggle against a tide of sins toward a new relationship with God, themselves and society.

The encounters are sometimes the key to change. Until the hurt or guilty feelings are let go, until self-forgiveness is realized, change is often impossible.

We would like to publicly thank the outside volunteers who, with Father George J. Dash, Deacon Frank Gohl, and the inmate staff at St. Mary’s who brought the message of Christ’s unconditional love, forgiveness and acceptance to the forgotten men behind the fences at Fishkill.

T.J. Didymus Ferguson

Fishkill Correctional Facility, Beacon

I.D. #96-A-7469