Updates on Return to Behind the Walls Ministry
After a long hiatus brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thrive For Life family is happy to announce that we will be resuming our spiritual retreats for citizens behind the walls! On March 26, Fr. Zach celebrated Masses at Otisville, Wallkill, and Shawangunk in Upstate New York to pave the way for our return behind the walls. Since the start of the pandemic, Thrive For Life has had limited in-person access to the prisons due to strict controls on congregant gatherings in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. However, as the public health situation continues to improve, we are excited to begin to send full cohorts of spiritual mentors back to minister to our brothers and sisters in prison very soon!
Under the leadership of Fr. Zach and Pablo, we have been paving the way for our return to behind the walls. Celebrating Masses in prisons Upstate, in addition to his weekly ministry at Rikers Island, Fr. Zach is preparing to welcome back our dedicated mentors who bring their many talents to minister to our brothers and sisters behind the walls. On April 26, Pablo will convene a meeting of our mentors to prepare and train them for our return to behind the walls retreats. Thanks to his team’s hard work, Thrive For Life will resume our ministry with more faith community partners and have opportunities to visit more prisons than ever before.
For the past two years, our mentors have dutifully kept up regular correspondence with our retreat participants through our monthly newsletter, care package program, and the sending of quality meditative resources for an examined life. Now more than ever, our friends behind the walls need our support and care. While the pandemic has ravaged our communities on the outside, jails and prisons throughout the country have been hit particularly hard. To date, hundreds of thousands of folks have contracted COVID-19 in prison over the past two years. With the slow return to in-person programming, we look forward to once again bringing hope, comfort, and grace to citizens behind the walls, especially in these challenging times.
As we finalize plans for our return, please stay tuned for details about upcoming retreats and programming. As it stands, Thrive anticipates returning to many of the same facilities throughout New York and New Jersey, including several more prisons throughout Upstate. If you are interested in becoming a spiritual mentor, please contact Pablo, our Spiritual Care Coordinator. We strongly encourage interested candidates to reach out, especially those with Spanish language fluency. We welcome all those who are committed to sharing the gifts of grace and hope with those on the inside!