March - April 2010

WESTERN – CENTRAL EUROPE

Dear Prison Fellowship Leaders,
The highlight of next month is with no doubt the seminars that will be held in Cluj
(Romania) and will gather more than 50 leaders (28 leaders from 17 PFI affiliates and
numerous leaders from Romania) for a time of sharing of best practices, learning new
skills and time of networking and building the house of the Lord among the big Prison
Fellowship family in Europe. We are delighted to see many of you coming to the event
that we are preparing with all our hearts. In addition to the three workshops; Restorative
Justice, Ministry Development, and Aftercare, there will be common sessions on
Fundraising with our special guest Reverend Hooijer from Stichting Rotterdam, a
meeting on EU funding access, a prison visit and many other opportunities to make the
most of these 2 ½ days together.
We have just met in Madrid in order to define specific outcomes that we hope to achieve,
the schedule, the detailed budget, the logistics. And at the same time it has been a great
opportunity to meet with the Board of PF Spain!
May the Lord bless you!

The European Support Group, Constantin, Tobias, Hans

and Dominique, Regional Liason

A WARM WELCOME THIS MONTH TO…

- Tuuli STEWART, new ED of PF Estonia, working closely with Avo Uprus,

Chairman!
- The new Board of Prison Fellowship Guernsey: Billy GILVEAR (Chairman
and Prison Chaplain), Grant WILSON (treasurer), Rosie LYCETT (secretary).
Prisoners Families Support in Scotland
PF Scotland was represented at a Scottish Prison Service on Criminal Justice
Seminar on the 14th of April. The theme was “Outside In- Building Better
relationships”, focusing on Contributions from the Faith Communities to
Family Support.

PF Scotland is establishing a strategy in order to reach out to families of

prisoners in view of alarming statistics in the country such as :
50% of young fathers inmates lose contact with their families ; one third of the
children witness their parents’ arrest; compared to 10% of general population,
30% of prisoner’s children have mental health problems; 59% of boys who
have parents in prison go to prison themselves…
The reoffending rate of prisoners is reduced by 6 times when family contact is
maintained;
Source: Families Outside (a Scottish NGO that specialises in advocacy and support for families affected by
imprisonment.)

PF Scotland is promoting alternatives to custody to the Minister of Justice and

plans to extend the successful ‘’through care’’ centre running in Aberdeen.

Liberation and Healing Seminar in Spain

From February to June 2010, PF Spain volunteers are running a seminar of
Liberation and Healing in the military prison of Alcalá. Using materials from
the PFI Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, PF Spain adapted the programme
to its audience. 10 sessions of 2h30 where a group a 3 to 5 volunteers meet with
a group of inmates. The prison guards announce the session with loud speakers
and one by one the inmates are free to attend. The session is divided in 3 parts :
dynamics, intervention and sharing. Meanwhile some other volunteers are
interceding praying from home. Dominique Alexandre took part in the 5th
session on April 10th . On that day, Paco, one of the inmates, entered the session
just by chance. He was not a believer but something happened, he was touched
by the theme on ‘’What is to be a Victim?’’, he asked a Bible to bring back in his
cell.
Building bridges in the PFI family in Europe
- Tobias Merckle from PF Germany attended the General Assembly of PF
Switzerland that took place on April 16th . Tobias made a presentation on the
ESG role and on the Prisma Juvenile alternative to prison.
- Henry and Gabriela Kabat visited the PF Scotland Office on Monday 12th
April looking at how PFS operates, with a view to possibly setting up a PF in
the Czech Republic. Henry ,a psychologist, and Gabriela a social worker,
have already seen the Lord opening up doors for prison ministry, and will be
meeting up with PF Slovakia representatives too.
- PF Estonia is planning to launch 4 weeks of prayer for prison ministry
around the country. Tuuli Stewart is having contacts with PF Hungary for
sharing best practices on the implementation of the Week of Prayer, using the
PFI materials.

Meetings at very high level!

- The President of the Republic of Hungary is visiting on May 5th the prison
of VAC where PF Hungary is leading an APAC programme. PFH is the
leader organization of this event together with the chaplains. All Church
Leaders will attend as well as media (TV, radio) and 80 key people. The
APAC inmates have prepared a show in honour of the President.
- PF Portugal (FIAR), represented by Dr Mendes, is looking forward to a
personal encounter with Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his visit to
Portugal on May 12th. FIAR has prepared some materials in Portuguese and
English on PFI and FIAR for the Holy Father.

→ Pray for the success of these 2 meetings!

OTHER PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for the work and mission of Prison Fellowship Northern
Ireland in its contacts with prisoners that men will be able to attend its
weekly meetings. Currently staffing presents issues when it comes to
escorting men from the cells to the meeting. Pray for a series of special
meetings that they have been given permission to hold during the week
24 - 28 May and also from 1 - 3 June 2010.
• Pray for promising new volunteers at PF Malta
 EASTERN EUROPE – CENTRAL ASIA
The most important event in May will be the first meeting of the Commission on
Regional Priority Issues in Moscow on the 28th . This is part of an initiative of PFI
Secretariat in preparation for the PFI Convocation in Toronto, Canada, from June 28 to
July 3, 2011. While Western Europe will lead a Commission on FOREIGN
PRISONERS CARE also on the 28th of May in Cluj, our region has been tasked to
elaborate on the following theme : INTER-CONFESSIONAL COOPERATION IN
PRISON MINISTRY – THE EXAMPLE OF EASTERN EUROPE –
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROBLEMS. The commission includes representatives
from PF Russia, PF Ukraine, PF Kyrgyzstan and a representative of PFI Secretariat. It
will work on an initial draft and will consult the national ministries in the region in
order to reflect their experience and best practices.
Ivan Sotirov, on behalf of the Eastern Europe – Central Asia RL Team.

The Russian Orthodox church has created a

special Synodal Department on prison ministry, led by
Bishop Irinarkh, Chairman of the Department. PF Russia Board Chair Gen.
Boris Sushkov has established good working relations with the new
Department in the spirit of excellent cooperation over the last decade. Fr.
Alexander Dobrodeev, senior officer in the Department and Board member of
PF Russia is contributing to this transition in an important way. We salute
Bishop Irinarkh and wish him God’s blessings on his leadership of prison
ministry in the Russian Federal Prison Service.

Juvenile crime prevention in Bulgaria

PF Bulgaria has started an important project in the area of juvenile crime
prevention. Together with CARITAS Bulgaria the ministry has developed a
project aimed at involving young people at risk in different creative activities
and moral foundations teaching as an antidote to socially disruptive
behavior. The project covers two large Bulgarian cities with a total population
of over 250,000. Funding has been secured from a German Foundation active
in the area of young people. The project is managed personally by Elena
Yoncheva and involves a team of trained volunteers.
 Achievements in Kyrgyzian aftercare
In spite of the terrible events and political upheaval in the country, PF
Kyrgyzstan continues its work, especially in its 4 rehabilitation centers. They
have planted the lands they have around the centers. In good coordination
with the chaplains they are continuing their regular visits to the prisons,
preparing to launch Sycamore Tree programs in 4 prisons.

Faith Based Probation

On April 27th, PF Lithuania organized a seminar dedicated to the
implementation of a large joint project on Faith-Based Probation, funded by a
large grant from the European Social Funds. The seminar involved
representatives of CARITAS, of The Institute of Law, and the Lithuanian
Prison Chaplaincy Association.

PRAYER REQUESTS
PF Albania - Pray for revival of the ministry
PF Armenia – Pray for the for the extension and renewal of the Board
PF Belarus – Pray for a new Board of the ministry,
PF Kazakhstan- pray for increased church cooperation in prison ministry
PF Ukraine – pray for funding for the administrative needs of the ministry

Resources
You will soon receive the May 2010 issue of PFI’s Global Link Journal, an
expanded 2009 Annual Report edition. Included with this issue is a poster-size
world map highlighting all the countries chartered with PFI to date.

You should have also recently received the new PFI Membership Handbook in
the mail. This publication is your guide to the benefits and responsibilities of
affiliation with the global Prison Fellowship family. If you would like an
electronic copy of the handbook, please send your request to info@pfi.org.

ALL YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEXT EUROPE NEWSLETTER ARE MORE THAN WELCOME:
Please send them to dalexandre@pfi.org (Western Europe) or isotirov@pfi.org (for Eastern Europe and
Central Asia)

PFI Europe News is brought to you by Prison Fellowship International. Compiled and edited every other
month by Dominique Alexandre and Ivan Sotirov - PFI Europe Secretariat, Rue du Panorama 4, 1800 Vevey, Switzerland
Tel No +41-21 903-0270
© 2010 by Prison Fellowship International - All rights reserved - Reprints permitted with acknowledgement