A day in the life

In the first of a new series focussing on chaplaincy, the Rev Gary Caldwell, prison chaplain at Greenock and Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution, describes a day.

MOST days start with service preparation time (I conduct five ‘church’ services over two different prisons each week) working hard to make services engaging.

I’m currently doing a series called ‘Faith ‘n Fitba’ in one of the jails, a lot of fun but also a lot of preparation.

Once the daily regime is up and running, I may be delivering services, answering referrals to see people, following up on previous conversations. I may be offering bereavement care, giving out reassurance or even a cheap pair of reading glasses to someone. There’s always administration, from booking people into services, emails, recording details of conversations to collecting the mail. I also facilitate chaplaincy volunteers eg Prison Fellowship.

In one of the establishments a big part of my day is walking around the halls, work sheds, exercise yards, administrative offices chatting to residents and staff. In that jail there is a national top-end centre where long-term guys (mainly lifers) live. Being low-supervision, I can freely mingle amongst the guys, have a chat over a coffee, listen, have a giggle, pray with or even run a small bible study group.

The nature of the environment means conversations can quickly go from small talk to some heavy situations. It is a challenge ministering within a regime where sometimes it feels the only consistency is inconsistency. A place sometimes lacking in compassion, where often the easiest answer is no, chaplains seek to offer religious, pastoral and spiritual care to all. I can also assure people that we are also aware that there are victims of crime that we never meet.

That brings me to my title. We use the phrase ‘people in our care’ which I’ve grown to value. It reminds me daily that I’m dealing with people, people that chaplains care for in many ways from having that time to listen when others can’t to showing compassion when others don’t.

So, my day is about helping people know that God’s presence doesn’t stop at the prison gate and neither does God’s love and grace. Helping people accept responsibility for what they have done and transform their lives with support from others. In worship, conversation, or my interactions with people, I seek to be as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, the aroma of Christ.

As I accompany people, my hope is that just as God called Moses, who was, after all, a murderer, onto holy ground, that we will all know he also calls us into his holy presence. There is nothing inherently holy about the places we worship in behind the walls (far from it; one of the multi-faith rooms I work in has a portable commode sitting in the corner). It is holy ground because God is there and each day I go to work, I pray that someone will know that they are cared for and answer the invitation to stand on holy ground.

“ A place sometimes lacking in compassion, where often the easiest answer is no, chaplains seek to offer religious, pastoral and spiritual care to all.