Today I attended our regional Prison Chaplains meeting and we had a great speaker, Ben Engel. He was speaking of a course he runs for groups, called ‘Mindfulness Based on Stress Reduction Course’. It is a mouthful but what I was most interested in was that he was taking groups of prisoners Beechworth prison.
The program is designed to teach participants how to integrate and apply mindfulness in their everyday lives and to the range of challenges arising from medical and psychological conditions and life stresses.
Many aspects I would compare to meditation although the word God is not used. It is very demanding but also very beneficial. There are several sessions of 2.5 hours and a retreat day of 7.5 hours. The retreat day demands no speaking and no eye contact if possible.
The results are quite remarkable with many other prisoners experiencing the benefits of those in the program.
I don’t think we do enough to rehabilitate our prisoners so that they can assimilate back into society, but this program is a great start.
Fr. Michael Morley
The City of Greater Shepparton is conducting a Heritage Walk in Tatura on 28th October.
Between 11.00am and 12.00pm. There will be hosts available at Sacred Heart Church and St Mary’s Hall to guide you around the beautiful old buildings and provide you with a lot of historical information.
