Jackie Macadam learns more about Prisoners Week, which takes place this month.

FEATURE

The Rev Anne Stewart

“PHILIPPIANS is a favourite part of the Bible for me, especially since it was written by a guy in jail. I particularly like ‘…in humility consider others better than yourselves’ (Philippians 2:3),” says the Rev Anne Stewart, a Church of Scotland Chaplain at HMP Castle Huntly near Dundee.

“I try to practise that, and I believe that prisoners – who are very aware of how they’re seen by society, and who may indeed despise themselves – respond well to being loved.

Psychologist Carl Rogers taught the concept of ‘unconditional positive regard’. I call it love.

Some prisoners are more naturally lovable than others of course but God helps me to love them all.”

It’s a far cry from Anne’s upbringing as a daughter of the manse.

“I grew up in a manse. There have been a number of ministers in my family. My dad (Alex Cunningham) and his brother (Jamie Cunningham) are retired ministers. My husband (Jim Stewart) is a minister. My mum’s late uncle (John Warnock) and his uncle before him were ministers. In spite of that, no one was more surprised than I was when I felt called to train for the CofS ministry.

I left my job, working for what was then the Department of Social Security, in 1990 to start my BD at the University of Glasgow.

Having had a relatively sheltered and privileged upbringing, working for the DSS as a visiting officer, together with a previous job as a care assistant in a Church of Scotland night shelter for single homeless men gave me a good insight into the difficulties some other people go through.

“In 2007, with all four of our kids at school, it was time to look for full-time work. Although it works for others, we didn’t think it would be great for our family life to be parish ministers in different churches. Jim saw the advert for a full-time chaplain at HMP Castle Huntly and HMP Noranside (the latter is now closed).

I applied, because I thought I shouldn’t be praying for a job and not knock on doors that appeared in front of me. To be honest, I really hoped that the door would remain locked.

“At my interview, the governor asked me, perfectly reasonably: ‘Why do you want to be a prison chaplain?’ I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to say: ‘I don’t want to be a prison chaplain’ or indeed ‘I’m hoping God doesn’t want to be a prison chaplain’. So I said in a vaguely philosophical manner: ‘Well… why does anyone want to do anything…?’ and somehow I got away with it. I took the post when I was offered it, but with a lot of uncertainty.

“It wasn’t until two months into the job when, coming back from holiday I suddenly felt a huge rush of love for the job as I walked across the car park to go and draw my keys.

It was akin to the rush of love a mother has as she looks at her new baby – a really powerful bonding thing that has seen me through the past 11 years. I suppose you could say I felt God’s call to be a prison chaplain two months after I had already become one!”

She adds: “Some prisoners will be leaving prison with a Christian faith which they didn’t have prior to prison. One of my roles is to help to prepare them for the transition from attending services in a prison chapel to attending worship in churches in the community, to try and minimise any culture shock. I’m also very happy to talk to church folk in the community who want to know more about how to be supportive to these ‘returning citizens’.

“I have been hugely privileged to hear many very interesting stories and meet some fascinating characters. Unfortunately I can’t really talk about individuals as that wouldn’t be appropriate.

“There are funny moments though.

“I’ve met the guy who stole my first car, and the guy who gave me a fake £20 note when I was a delivery driver for a Chinese takeaway during my student days.

“We should care about prisoners because God told us to. Matthew 25:31-46 and Hebrews 13:3 are often quoted by chaplains talking to church groups.

“Prisoners Week is a good opportunity for the churches to remind themselves about those who are otherwise out of sight and possibly therefore also out of mind.”

Resources materials are available on the Prisoners Week Scotland website at http://www.prisonersweek.org.uk/worship.