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Background
Staff continues to seek opportunities to promote and follow up on the Bishops' 2000 pastoral letter Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice.
Staff participates in the Interfaith Coordinating Committee, which received a $35,000 grant last year from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The goal of the Committee is to develop a broad-based coalition of faith groups that will work with their member communities and like-minded secular groups to develop and promote restorative justice principles. Participants to date, include representatives of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the Baptist Peace Fellowship, Wertz & Co. (a secular prisoner advocacy organization), and Volunteers of America.
Domestic staff also participates in other efforts to promote restorative justice and criminal justice reform. On April 7 & 8, in a symposium held at Southern Illinois University. Titled, (Mental Health and Prisons,( the symposium was designed to look at the current state of mental health care in state and federal prisons. In July of this year, staff will be attending the annual American Catholic Correctional Chaplains Association conference at Loyola Marymount University, prior to the annual American Correctional Association(s conference being held in Anaheim, California. Staff will participate with chaplains and volunteers as they discuss ways to improve prison ministries across the United States.
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) continues to fund local efforts to educate and advocate on behalf of criminal justice reform around the country. DSD staff participates in reviewing applications for the upcoming third round of grants for which the U. S. Bishops have allocated $1.5 million. The CCHD announced on February 7, the distribution of the second round of grants, totaling approximately $530,500 and plans to make the announcement of the third and final round in mid-June.
For Further Information
Andrew Rivas, Policy Advisor, Domestic Social Development, 202-541-3190, arivas@usccb.org