By: Sydney Umstead, News Editor
Campus Ministry is currently requesting letters of support for incarcerated individuals.
These letters will be used for a prison ministry retreat at Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York.
Spencer Liechty, the director of Campus Ministry, stated that the importance of these letters is to “uphold this idea of caring for someone who is maybe experiencing something that we aren’t and we might not know about.” He adds that while it may “be a little intimidating to think about writing a letter or a note to somebody that you don’t know,” the letters can be words of support or about interests, such as the Buffalo Bills.
Liechty went on to say that regardless of what someone may have done, “we still have to treat them as humans and care for them,” continuing to say that “Everyone deserves to be treated humanely, even in a situation that is a locked facility.”
In regard to Canisius as a Jesuit institution and cura personalis, or care for the whole person, Liechty noted how while this care can be applied to “our physical self” and social, spiritual, and mental self, it is also about “really caring for others as well.”
The retreat is not through Canisius; however, Liechty stated that in his own life, he has done work in prison ministry through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, which is a “post-grad year of service that anyone can do after they graduate.” Part of the retreat may feature talks about love, forgiveness and spirituality.
While Liechty worked with the volunteer corps, their role was to ensure “the people who were incarcerated were getting proper treatment.” This ranged from things like making sure they had access to medication, and “that there were no abuses going on in the locked facility.” He added that “it was sort of like a watchdog over the locked facility.”
Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest and author who spoke at Canisius in 2022, created the program Homeboy Industries which is “the largest gang-intervention rehabilitation and reentry program in the world,” according to their website. Boyle and Homeboy Industries work to aid in the rehabilitation and support of formerly incarcerated and gang-involved individuals.
Interested parties should not include any identifiable information, and use only their first name.
Letters can be submitted via the QR code in Today@Canisius, and handwritten letters can be dropped off at the Campus Ministry office in Old Main 101. All letters are asked to be submitted by Nov. 21.
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