Called to Heal the Brokenhearted: Stories from Kairos Prison Ministry International

321 Pages·2016·5.194 MB·English

by  William H. Barnwell

Called to Heal the Brokenhearted

Called to Heal tHe
BrokenHearted
Stories from Kairos
Prison Ministry International
William H. Barnwell
Afterword by Jed Horne
University Press of Mississippi / Jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of American University Presses.
Copyright © 2016 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2016
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Barnwell, William Hazzard, 1938- author.
Title: Called to heal the brokenhearted : stories from Kairos Prison Ministry
International / William H. Barnwell ; afterword by Jed Horne.
Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2016] | Includes
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015032199 (print) | LCCN 2016000495 (ebook) | ISBN
9781496805256 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781496805263 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Church work with prisoners. | Kairos Prison Ministry
International.
Classification: LCC BV4340 .B37 2016 (print) | LCC BV4340 (ebook) | DDC
259/.5—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015032199
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving your neighbor as yourself?”
—From the Episcopal Baptismal Covenant
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
—Psalm 147:3

For Mary Royall Barnwell (1902–1986), my mother, who
taught me to always look for the good in other people. With
special thanks to Corinne Barnwell, who transcribed most of
the stories.

Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................3
Part I: Before kaIros #53
Chapter One: Beginning a Prison Ministry .................................................................25
Chapter Two: My First Experiences with Kairos .............................................................33
Chapter Three: Kairos Begins at Angola, 1993 ............................................................51
Chapter Four: What About the Victims? ...................................................................62
Part II: kaIros #53, novemBer 10–13, 2011
Chapter Five: Kairos #53, an Overview ....................................................................81
Chapter Six: Stories from Inmates and Former Inmates at Kairos #53 .....................................90
Chapter Seven: Stories from the Volunteers at Kairos #53 ............................................... 136
Part III: after kaIros #53
Chapter Eight: From Kairos to Death Row ............................................................... 179
Chapter Nine: Kairos in Other States .................................................................... 197
Chapter Ten: Louisiana Prison Reformers ................................................................ 216
Chapter Eleven: Kairos #56, November 8–11, 2013 ................................................... 245
Chapter Twelve: My Hopes for Kairos .................................................................... 268
Chapter Thirteen: My Day in Court, April 14, 2014 ...................................................... 276
Afterword: A Secular Journalist Responds to Kairos, by Jed Horne ........................................ 285
Appendix A: The Resolution on Kairos Ecumenism ........................................................ 297
Appendix B: A “Working Paper” from the Louisiana Sentencing Commission ............................. 299
In Appreciation .......................................................................................... 303
Index ................................................................................................... 305