Prison Ministry changes lives

Funded by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, Restorative Ministry is coordinated by Dianne Anderson, and includes a team of volunteers who provide prayer and programs at Saskatchewan Correctional Centre.

Teresa Hiebert (left) got involved in prison ministry after graduating from Lay Formation. “I was really, really scared at first,” she admits, recalling her first visit to pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet with inmates. “It was such a beautiful honest open atmosphere of celebration and it was so touching to see them.” In addition, assisting with Centring Prayer and Sharing Circle at the Correctional Centre has convinced Hiebert of the need for prison ministry, which changes lives and offers the men support on a new path of faith and healing.

“You can see their hearts melt – and when you see the tears, you know that’s the Holy Spirit and you can see the change in them, the transformation – you see that little spark. I guess that’s the spark of mercy. It shatters that hardened shell on the outside… That’s where the hope starts to come in.”
– Prison ministry volunteer Teresa Hiebert.