Blessed Savior Catholic Church
Blessed Savior Parish is immersed in one of the most segregated cities in America. Our former pastor, Father Gregg, put us on the road to becoming involved with prison ministry. This year the National Director of Prison Ministry for St Vincent De Paul reached out to us as we share efforts to help families of those impacted by incarceration. This grant is part of our effort at Blessed Savior to do this.
As we look toward spring, lent and Easter, we scheduled another gathering for March but with a different approach, tone. Listening to a parishioner with African background who helped us at our last gathering, and listening to thoughts from our Pastoral Council, we returned some resources purchased to reflect a smaller gathering. Our approach now is to have an open invitation to families to discuss where they want to be and how to get there. We’ll ask where do you want to be? How can we help you to get there?
Doing this allows us to be approached by families burdened by the stigma of being associated with incarceration since we are inviting everyone. Yet we will still offer resources and assistance in dealing with issues arising from incarceration. We are not so far from 53206 that we are not touched by what goes on there in our city. Our Choice school is mostly African American and their community struggles most with incarceration issues. Using African images, art work and proverbs, we hope to appeal to those families and help them and others as well.
The Black and Indian Mission grants, through the Milwaukee Archdiocese, make this experience possible. We thank you for allowing this opportunity.
