The news site of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland: nourishing and connecting our faith community

Prison chaplains

Thursday November 21

Woman wearing a lanyard and purple high-vis vest next to bush

How did I end up ministering one day a week at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, speaking with the men in green?

“A tall intimidating-looking man was walking towards me. His head was shaved and tattooed. I remained motionless, rooted to the spot. As he passed me, he whispered, ‘God bless’,” says Cheryl Courtice on her early prison chaplaincy experience

On the prison chaplaincy frontlines

“Stan was a stoic and grumpy old inmate whose head was always downcast, reading, writing, or doing crosswords. Whenever I drew close to the table at which he sat (usually alone), he’d make some disparaging remark about the uselessness of what chaplains stood for,” says prison chaplain Ken Collins from St Mark’s, The Gap

Portrait of Eliza, wife of Governor Darling,1825 by Linnell, John (Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia: 1252913)

Lady Eliza Darling – pioneering social reformer and evangelical Anglican

“Eliza Darling’s strong practical faith and her refusal to give up on those whom society had given up would make her a very good prison chaplain if she were alive today,” says ACSQ prison chaplain The Rev’d Sue Barker on trailblazing social reformer Lady Eliza Darling, who is commemorated in our Lectionary on 3 September

Justice that restores

“Prison chaplains help find ways to heal and restore our communities through acts of love, respect and sensitivity, and our Diocese’s dedicated Chaplaincy Ministry team is particularly passionate about this work,” says new ACSQ Chaplaincy Services Manager Andrea Colledge