Sister Mary Cronin, DM, recently visited the Secular Franciscan Order at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Absecon, to explain the growing need for prison ministry and how the seculars can help support the incarcerated and their families.
At the chapter’s monthly meeting April 21, Sister Mary, prison ministry coordinator for Catholic Charities Diocese of Camden, explained that the ministry has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, as volunteers were not allowed into jails and prisons due to the risk of contagion. Not only have many of those restrictions been lifted, but new prison ministry initiatives have emerged. Among them are: Angel Tree, to aid children of the incarcerated; Rose’s Room, for people who have family and loved ones incarcerated; Re-entry Mentorship, which helps the newly released make a successful life after incarceration, and Woman to Woman, which offers friendship to women who have lost friends due to incarceration.
She encouraged all those interested in serving to contact her at Mary.Cronin@camdendiocese.org or visit catholiccharitiessouthjersey.org/prison-ministry.
Kathy Agosto, minister of the parish’s Divine Mercy Fraternity Secular Franciscan Order, said the 27 English- and Spanish-speaking seculars in attendance found the talk informative. The group asked Sister Mary to visit after determining that they wanted to be involved in prison ministry throughout the Diocese. They currently have an active outreach to the hungry as well as pregnant mothers and their children.
Agosto expressed hope that the group will work with Sister Mary Cronin in the near-future in prison ministry or other ways such as leading prayer groups and one-on-one encounters with the incarcerated “to guide them in spirituality and their relationship with Christ.”
Established more than 800 years ago by Saint Francis of Assisi, the Secular Franciscan Order consists of women and men, single or married, who desire to follow the saint’s path and be active witnesses of the Gospel through prayer, contemplation, fellowship and outreach to the poor and marginalized. The order, which can include clergy and religious, has a worldwide membership of more than 300,000 members, and 12,000 professed in the United States in 600 local fraternities.
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