Sunday, August 31 • 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
God leads forth prisoners to prosperity.–Psalm 68:7
God is very concerned about God’s children who end up in prison. As Jesus begins his public life, he quotes from Isaiah 61:1, which records that the Spirit of God had anointed his servant “to proclaim liberty to the captives” and it is a recurring theme almost to the end of his ministry as we read in Matthew 25:36 “in prison and you visited me.” This concern does not end with Jesus’ death because in the Letter to the Hebrews 13:3, we are reminded to “continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Prisoners were seen as “the least” among those in society and how we treat the marginalized and powerless is what matters to God.
Biblical stories illustrate an age-old problem: Not everyone imprisoned is guilty of genuine wrongdoing. Look at Jesus. Not only was he, an innocent man, imprisoned unjustly, but he died in a state-sanctioned death penalty. However, I digress. Of course, not everyone in prison is innocent of the crime to which they were convicted, but as prisons and imprisonment are consistent themes throughout the Bible, concern about prisoners through a parish prison ministry ought to run more powerfully throughout churches.
This brings me to the reason I am writing today. When we imprison immigrants, whose only fault is being an immigrant, we have to be concerned. As I stated previously, how we treat the marginalized and powerless is what matters to God.
Pope Leo said recently: “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference. . .For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world” (Network, Third Quarter 2025). It is essential that we maintain “principled and persistent engagement with those who share common values” states Giovana Oaxaca, Senior Government Relations Advocate on Immigration for Network. As she further reflects, “When we show up for others, we forge bonds of our collective liberation.”
Prisoners do not lose their human dignity just because they are prisoners and we must speak out when we see injustice and work to improve both our prison and immigration systems.
To join Prison Ministry, contact Sandy Peace and to join Justice for Immigrants, contact Luisa Martin-Price at socialconcern@hnojnc.org
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director
Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC