Prison chaplaincy and UN diplomacy – Doris Schäfer

A visit to a UN meeting in Vienna In Vienna, the United Nations has an office for combating drugs and crime. It is the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). To this office belongs the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ). Once a year, this commission invites the member states and members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to a meeting in Vienna. Every year, the ICCPPC is also invited together with IPCA (International Prison Chaplains Association). This year, as the European representative of the ICCPPC, I represented Catholic prison ...

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For the abolition of the death penalty

Go to https://youtu.be/Cpv3zCBJzSc. There are many reasons to say “NO” to the death penalty. It is not a just punishment, since it “offers no justice to victims, but rather foments revenge… And it prevents any possibility of correcting a possible miscarriage of justice.” It’s morally inadmissible, because “it destroys the most important gift we have received: life.” And, as Francis reminds us, “in the light of the Gospel, the death penalty is unacceptable.” Let us not remain indifferent in the face of laws which, in some parts of the world, ...

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O brother, were art thou?

Dr. Jonathan Werner held a lecture at the Restorative Justice Congress in Puerto Rico (february 2020). >> Download the document

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Pope Francis on the death penalty

What does the rejection of the death penalty by Pope Francis mean? - some theological considerations by Prof.dr. Fred van Iersel. Download document

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ICCPPC Panama 2017: Theo de Wit

Lecture Theo de Wit: Panama Hope for criminals. Download document

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Report of the President at the XIV Congress of ICCPPC

Panama City 6th – 10th February 2017 Dear Friends, Some time has passed since our last Congress held in Yaounde, Cameroon in September 2011. However, for the ICCPPC that time has been fruitfully spent in such diverse ways across the continents as you and I have contributed greatly in the field of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care. The Board has been working on your behalf developing areas of pastoral care and responding to various requests where possible. As always the greatest resource we have is ourselves –the men and women who work tirelessly, sometimes with ...

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For Justice and Mercy

Publications on an international level and addressing prison chaplaincy from different angles are rare. For Justice and Mercy offers international texts on the position of prison chaplaincy and examples from the praxis. (more…)

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Pope meets inmates: ‘I am a sinner like you.’

In 2015 Pope Francis visited in Bolivia the Palmasola prison. “I know that there are many things here that make it hard: overcrowding, justice delayed, a lack of training opportunities and rehabilitation policies, violence. All these things point to the need for a speedy and efficient cooperation between institutions in order to come up with solutions. And yet, while working for this, we should not think that everything is lost. There are things that we can do even today.” >> Download document (in Spanish)

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Pope Francis on the Justice system

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I warmly greet all of you and I would like to express my personal gratitude for your service to society and for your valuable contribution to the development of a legal process that respects the dignity and rights of the human person, without distinction. I would like to share a few ideas with you on certain issues which, although debatable in part — in part! — touch directly upon the dignity of the human person and therefore concern the Church, in her mission of evangelization, of human advancement, of service to justice and to ...

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Call for papers Jubilee publication: ICCPPC 65 years

In 2015 ICCPPC exists 65 years! It is a unique opportunity  to reflect and publish on its history, wishes for the future and on the theology of prison chaplaincy. People involved or interested in catholic prison chaplaincy are invited to send a contribution for this publication. If you want to submit an article, please do! If you know people who could have an interesting contribution, please invite them to contribute!   Criteria: – A scientific article with a reflection on (an aspect of) catholic prison chaplaincy in English, French or Spanish – The ...

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