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| Home||Benedictine Sisters of Erie||Catalogue||Joan in the News||Contact Benetvision Fund for Prisoners||Retreats||About Benetvision||Ideas in Passing Benetvision • 355 East Ninth Street • Erie, PA 16503-1107 • Phone 814-459-5994 benetvision@benetvision.org • Fax 814-459-8066 Copyrighted © 2007 Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA |
Dear Friends of Benetvision,
This is not an easy letter to write because I know that everyone reading it has gone through some kind of economic adjustment or
upheaval this past year.
That’s why I’m writing it.
It is exactly when we ourselves know what it’s like to live on the precipice of life that we are most likely to understand those who
are already there. It is exactly when we our-selves know what it’s like to live on the precipice of life that it is important to reach
down and help someone who has even fewer resources than we do. To allow ourselves to be moved by the needs of another when
we are suddenly so aware of our own is to be touched by the heart of God.
So I’m asking you again—when all of us feel so powerless to change the economic circumstances that imprison us, to remember those
imprisoned for reasons far more impacting than the decline of a stock market. These are the ones left with far less than those of us
who must now buy far more carefully, plan far more closely, give up far more than the superfluities of life.
Prisoners need the hope and spiritual anchorage to get them through the dark days of repentance to brighter days of possibility.
YOU CAN GIVE IT TO THEM.
Specifically, I am asking you to add a prisoner to your Christmas list. As a holiday offer from Benetvision, you can give a one-year
gift subscription of The Monastic Way to a prisoner for only $12.
Thanks to so many of you, we have been able to serve 71 prisons. We have donated over $65,000 worth of materials to prison
chaplains and the people they serve. We have received mail from prisoner after prisoner about the effects of these simple gifts on
their lives. We have heard from the chaplains who go into these places week after week with nothing but faith to aid them until your
gift makes it possible for us to send them the publications they need to open minds and heal hearts that have been too long frozen
closed by a sense of isolation, worthlessness and rejection.
Their ongoing development, their spiritual depth in an environment that can be crude, chaotic and dehumanizing rather than
prayerful, thoughtful and dignifying has a lot to do with your understanding of what it means to find the future taken out of your
hands.
In the middle of my concern about the program this year, I got the following letter. I want you to read it. If I ever had proof of how
important the Prison Fund is to these people, I saw it here.
Two things I want you to know. Some of the money this prisoner donated for this work came from money that had been deposited by
friends for her needs in the prison savings account. The rest of it she earned by working there for 47¢ an hour.
I know that your account has been affected this year, too, but I’m hoping that you’ll reach down one more time and make it possible
for others in more need to find the hope to go on pulling themselves up.
Add a prisoner to your Christmas list.
For a donation of only $12.00 we will send a one-year subscription to The Monastic Way to a prisoner.
This is not an easy letter to write because I know that everyone reading it has gone through some kind of economic adjustment or
upheaval this past year.
That’s why I’m writing it.
It is exactly when we ourselves know what it’s like to live on the precipice of life that we are most likely to understand those who
are already there. It is exactly when we our-selves know what it’s like to live on the precipice of life that it is important to reach
down and help someone who has even fewer resources than we do. To allow ourselves to be moved by the needs of another when
we are suddenly so aware of our own is to be touched by the heart of God.
So I’m asking you again—when all of us feel so powerless to change the economic circumstances that imprison us, to remember those
imprisoned for reasons far more impacting than the decline of a stock market. These are the ones left with far less than those of us
who must now buy far more carefully, plan far more closely, give up far more than the superfluities of life.
Prisoners need the hope and spiritual anchorage to get them through the dark days of repentance to brighter days of possibility.
YOU CAN GIVE IT TO THEM.
Specifically, I am asking you to add a prisoner to your Christmas list. As a holiday offer from Benetvision, you can give a one-year
gift subscription of The Monastic Way to a prisoner for only $12.
Thanks to so many of you, we have been able to serve 71 prisons. We have donated over $65,000 worth of materials to prison
chaplains and the people they serve. We have received mail from prisoner after prisoner about the effects of these simple gifts on
their lives. We have heard from the chaplains who go into these places week after week with nothing but faith to aid them until your
gift makes it possible for us to send them the publications they need to open minds and heal hearts that have been too long frozen
closed by a sense of isolation, worthlessness and rejection.
Their ongoing development, their spiritual depth in an environment that can be crude, chaotic and dehumanizing rather than
prayerful, thoughtful and dignifying has a lot to do with your understanding of what it means to find the future taken out of your
hands.
In the middle of my concern about the program this year, I got the following letter. I want you to read it. If I ever had proof of how
important the Prison Fund is to these people, I saw it here.
- Dear Sr. Joan,
My name is Nancy and I am incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Chino, California (18+ years). Ladies
Ms. Barbara and Ms. Jane facilitate our group “Pathways to Wholeness” which is held the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of
each month. This is a wonderful group which features your style of spirituality through our use of The Monastic Way, as
well as open discussion led by our facilitators to further our understanding of God’s graces and His positive impact on
our lives. It has been my privilege to attend this group for many years.
I would like to contribute a small amount to your organization. This is my way of personally thanking Barbara and Jane,
(and you Joan Chittister) for everything you do on behalf of so many inmates.
Enclosed please find a check from my CIW trust account in the amount of $100. Again, to you my heartfelt “Thank
you.”
Very truly, N.C.
Two things I want you to know. Some of the money this prisoner donated for this work came from money that had been deposited by
friends for her needs in the prison savings account. The rest of it she earned by working there for 47¢ an hour.
I know that your account has been affected this year, too, but I’m hoping that you’ll reach down one more time and make it possible
for others in more need to find the hope to go on pulling themselves up.
Add a prisoner to your Christmas list.
For a donation of only $12.00 we will send a one-year subscription to The Monastic Way to a prisoner.
For a donation of
only $12.00 we will
send a one-year
subscription to The
Monastic Way to a
prisoner.
CLICK HERE
only $12.00 we will
send a one-year
subscription to The
Monastic Way to a
prisoner.
CLICK HERE
