PANJIM: Prison Ministry India (PMI) inaugurated the 13th National Convention which will deliberate on the theme ‘Reform to Reintegrate’ from November 16 to 18 at the St Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre, Old Goa.
Delivering the Presidential address, His Eminence Felipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao called on the PMI volunteers to invest time by listening, appreciating and loving the prisoners to enable them to reach their self-actualization and enjoy true redemption.
Cardinal Ferrao commended the volunteers of the PMI (Goa Unit) who are celebrating the silver jubilee of their passionate service of Christ Jesus in the Goa prisons. He recalled that the patron of the Archdiocese was a prisoner in Sri Lanka and it would be right to call him the Patron Saint of Prisoners in India.
The keynote speaker, Bishop Alwyn D’Silva, Chairperson of the PMI, cited that the six lakh prisoners lingering in the prisons of India is not just a number but the immense expression of pain and agony of their parents and families which is unsurmountable. When the world does not recognise prisoners as citizens, he said, the over eight thousand PMI volunteers serving in the 1350 prisons of India is attempt to reform the prisoners to reintegrate them in the society for their integral human development.
In the inaugural address, chief guest, Judge Desmond D’Costa, Member of the Human Rights Commission (GHRC) recalled his days as the District Judge where he directly witnessed exemplary service of the Prison Ministry volunteers to help prisoners tide over their stress and struggles of everyday life in the prisons.
