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Dear Volunteers and Friends,
It was wonderful to see many of you at our annual appreciation dinner on Feb. 4! More than 60 program volunteers and friends of the ministry attended this annual event including facility chaplains, Michigan Restorative Justice Council members, and returned citizens.
The evening began with a program update that highlighted a year full welcoming and joy as we journeyed as pilgrims of hope with our incarcerated friends. We welcomed 8 incarcerated men into the church in 2025. That is the most in one year since I began doing this work in 2008. Your service is having a transforming effect on our incarcerated friends! They are living their lives with purpose and following Bishop’s instructions when he said in prison during a homily in 2023, "You have two purposes, to get to heaven and bring as many people as possible with you.” Our incarcerated friends are following Bishop’s call; they are being fishers of men and you are helping them, thank you!
God places persons in our lives that only we can have an effect on and you are having a great effect on our incarcerated friends and they are having a powerful effect on you as well! This is the profound beauty of your yes to God’s call. When we allow the Jesus in us to meet the Jesus in the incarcerated we both grow in holiness and the world is forever changed. Thank you for your continued generosity of service in unfamiliar places!
Our guest speaker was Deacon Jerry Roersma, who gave a moving testimony about his personal experience with harm, healing, and unexpected service. In the moments following the murder of his brother-in-law and his wife, Deacon Jerry found comfort in the peace that only God offers and in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. when he said, "I decided to stick with love because hate was too great a burden to bear." Deacon Jerry's ability to forgive transformed not only him, but one of the offenders as well. His story ignited in us a desire to offer our forgiveness freely and reminded us of the healing effect it has on our lives.
Last year as we embarked as pilgrims of hope we concluded the dinner with Thomas Merton's A Pilgrim's Prayer. As we continue our journey of hope we closed this year's dinner again with Thomas Merton’s words in a letter to a young activist. These words had a profound impact on me while working for Grand Rapids Right to Life and Right to Life of Michigan from 1994 to 2006. I have revisited these words often over the last 18 years doing this work as well. I am very grateful for the time we shared together at our annual dinner and the warmth of the Holy Spirit found in each other’s friendship. Thank you!
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