Finding the CLF in Prison

Jan continued...  In [this state's] Dept. of Corrections, it is very hard to find any religious or spiritual literature or organizations that are not exclusively Christian. It makes my time go so much better to be reminded that there are people like myself in the world and that my time here is limited. I look forward to attending UU services once again after my release, and to attending General Assembly again. Until I can be there in person, I am pleased to be 'attending' GA on paper and in spirit.

Thomas wrote  One of our basic needs for survival is Belongingness.  I know that I get this through the Church of the Larger Fellowship.  Being a Unitarian Universalist has changed my life. With the help of UU correspondence courses, UUWorld magazine, CLF's monthly Quest, CLF's Loan Library, my Letter Writing 'match' and the staff at the Prison Ministry, I have this belongingness. All of this is of great importance to me. This helps me to stay positive and I now strive to better myself each day. I know that I'm now a much better person than I was in the past. And I will still be growing in my walk.

William wrote  Finding a church to accept an openly gay man is not very easy! But to find that UUs not only accept, but ordain, and fight for the rights of sexually discriminated people, was to me, a mind blowing experience! When I read that UU 'is a way of being religious, rather than a religious doctrine', that was very inspiring to me:  to see my own belief in print, after 40 years of searching, gives me hope that I can finally find a place to call HOME! Even though I am new to the UU Church, I already have lots of material through the CLF Prison Ministry. I can't wait for my new lessons, to begin studying more about UUs. I hope to some day be able to help others the way the UU Church has helped me.

Chris wrote  I'm in my 20s and serving a life sentence. The Church of the Larger Fellowship has been helping me since I was incarcerated a few years back. I am having a great spiritual adventure despite being locked up and mentally ill. Sometimes (okay, all the time) people need a lifeline to hold on to, and CLF has provided that for me. Prison can be very lonely and CLF has a Letter Writing Ministry, which I must say is an excellent idea and I really speak for all prisoners when I say that getting letters in the mail is a really good thing!

Rose wrote  The CLF Prison Ministry has been such a blessing to me during my stay here because it shows me that I don't have to go through this experience alone. My participation in the Letter Writing Ministry has been great because I am learning so much from the wonderful woman who has been writing to me. Both she and the CLF have enriched my spiritual life while I'm incarcerated. One thing I have learned from being in prison is that if one takes advantage of the programs offered, one can heal and become a productive member of society. Prison isn't full of bad people; prison is full of people who made bad choices and mistakes.

Allan wrote  I have to admit that I was a skeptic when I first joined the CLF, expecting a catch somewhere, another attempted force-feeding of someone else's beliefs, but I have been delightfully surprised: CLF is truly a church for the world. I can't thank you enough for all the help you've provided. I have been especially pleased with my match in the Letter Writing Ministry. We have been corresponding for about five months now, and from the very first letter I received, I felt accepted. My penpal is always responsive to my questions and comments, and has taught me many things about UUs and the workings of the church. Many thanks to everyone involved in making this happen.

Sherman wrote  Have you ever felt like you were drowning and there was no one to turn to? If so, then we have been at the same place, and survived. I couldn't do it alone: the Church of the Larger Fellowship is the flotation device that was thrown to me and saved my life. I have been involved with the UUs for a few years now, and these years have been a great blessing to me. At one time, I lost hope of ever living a life outside of prison and the prison within myself. I didn't believe for a second that I would make it on the outside. Now I know that I will. The Letter Writing Ministry has been a tool for me to reach out and connect with society. I have been able to meet some people who are having a great impact on my life, and my eyes have been opened to a new understanding of life and people. I still have so much to learn, but I'm ready to learn.

Mark wrote  In my current prison, I can keep up to two cubic feet of paper-based material, including religious and legal-aid materials. I am engaged in correspondence courses for my anticipated degree in microbiology, so there's four binders full of notes I am amassing on the ever-emerging variety of virae, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa out there in the world (and of course, in here). Then there are also my music books, my Taoist and Buddhist books, my legal materials, and my binder of materials on sex offender research and treatment. The letters from my UU 'penpal' take up a very small part of my archive, but they are important because they are from someone who takes a little time each month out of her busy schedule to check in with me and see if I am still amongst the living. So Thanks! to her - and to you for reading this letter - you've just "climbed the fence" for a moment - why not do it again, and join CLF's Letter Writing Ministry? You might be surprised at what you can both teach and learn!

Frank wrote  Calvin Coolidge once remarked, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence."  In my nearly 20 years of association with the Unitarian Universalists and CLF in particular, there's been - perhaps inadvertent - adherence to this statement. Commitment is a human quality often neglected by society at large, but UU-CLF has managed admirably. They've persevered, they've abided, through my times of difficulty and comparative ease. Even as I contemplate my experiences with UU-CLF, there's an awe and wonderment at the compassionate treatment from them. As an elderly man, I've witnessed a fair amount. My 30+ years of incarceration have, somewhat surprisingly, benefited me, 'teaching' me lessons quite foreign to me on the street. UU-CLF has been an instrumental part in helping me to form this 'new' person, one heretofore considered not possible...Recently I enrolled in a UU-CLF correspondence course in World Religions, that generates great interest and enjoyment. Learning about other cultures produces a broader perspective, something I value highly.

Joseph wrote  I have been incarcerated for over 12 years, and I reached out to the Church of the Larger Fellowship about four years ago. At that time, I was extremely intrigued by some literature that I read and just had to learn more about the Unitarian Universalist faith. Well, I was assigned a UU penpal and started to receive various enrichment material.  I also wrote to several local UU ministers and [Rev. L.] actually responded. He began to visit with me, and soon he was holding monthly UU Worship Services here...  Today, whenever I receive a letter from my UU penpal, attend our monthly UU Worship Service, receive my monthly Quest newsletter, or the UUWorld magazine, it feels like the SUN breaking through the clouds after a long, damp, dark, wet day - Oh, what a RELIEF!  I am so thankful to the CLF, to my UU penpal, to Rev. L., and to the UU faith for bringing my God closer to me, for giving me hope, for allowing me to learn more about faith, about life, about living. I am truly blessed in having found UUism and it has brought me such inner strength, such a feeling of belonging to something more powerful than any one of Us, to a faith which truly embraces my ideas of the human spirit and of what life on this great planet is really all about.

Peter wrote  Prison can be an unwelcome place for those with liberal religious or secular views. With the help of my local UU minister, I joined CLF about a year ago, and through the outreach efforts of its Prison Ministry, I have found a home in UU. In providing basic literature, the opportunity to participate in correspondence courses, and to thereby expand my knowledge of the liberally religious, CLF has empowered me to achieve a sense of belonging that did not otherwise exist. I would be remiss if I didn't laud CLF's Letter Writing Ministry. For about five months now, I've had the privilege of corresponding with my 'match' who lives clear across the country. Although both of us were understandably not sure what to expect in the beginning, participation in this program has had unforeseeable rewards. For me, it is the opportunity of fellowship and friendship, dampening the impact of loneliness surrounding incarceration. I'd like to think that for my 'match', it provides the means and opportunity to truly make a difference in the world - to touch a life in a meaningful way. Isn't that what it's all about anyway?  In the end, perhaps I'm most grateful that the Prison Ministry's outreach efforts help me to realize that - despite these walls - I am never alone: not alone in the courage to think for myself, in rejecting dogma, and in employing both reason and reverence in the quest for a spiritually-enriched life. On behalf of those prisoners not yet 'matched', I encourage you to consider becoming a participant in CLF's Letter Writing Ministry, where you too can make a difference.

Jerry wrote  I have been in prison for 14 years. Since coming to prison, all of my children have grown to young adulthood and are now blessing me with a new generation. Though I hate prison for obvious reasons, I have had an opportunity to grow into a much better person. My spiritual self has grown by leaps and bounds, probably because of so much idle time, time to reflect and search inside for a higher source of power. CLF's Quest newsletter and the UUWorld magazine give insight to spiritual wellness. The Letter Writing Ministry gives positive hope-building lifeblood to prisoners. People need to realize that there are so many good people who for one reason or another have made some seriously poor life choices and end up in prison. I was recently give a new hope: a new release date in 2009! I have done a lot to prepare myself to meet the challenge of remaining free once I get out. I have gone from a 9th grade education to an Associate Degree (Cum Laude) and a Computer Programming Certification. I have attended every positive program the "System" offers, and have worked hard to change my thinking patterns to have a positive outlook on becoming a responsible Father/Grandfather, Brother, Uncle, etc. But still, I'm scared!  I am afraid of failing to make it out there. When I leave prison, it will be with $100 in my pocket and a "see ya soon". My family will provide me with a place to live, but how will I survive those first few months? Please keep me and my brothers and sisters soon to hit the streets, who truly want to succeed and be qualified contributors in our society, ever in your deepest prayers.

D. wrote  I am a sex offender. During my 10+ years in prison, I have lived and worked among many law-breakers, but the body of my experience is with people like me. I have listened to their stories, studied my program materials and the statistics, and compared what I learned to what I once lived. No one knows the precise reason a person chooses to act out sexually. As with most human behaviors, there is a constellation of issues at work. Most sex offenders have problems that can be found in any segment of our society. But what allows a person to choose to commit this heinous and harmful action is the failure to consider injury to others; temporarily or chronically, a lack of empathy.  What I believe is that we sex offenders lack the sense of connection that comes from a healthy spirituality and a feeling of belonging, things crucial to having empathy.  Most sex offenders live lives of isolation, out of habits learned in childhood and out of shame. They are disconnected from people and the world around them.  I know.  And without that sense of connection, everyone and everything become senseless objects to be used and thrown away.  I have been told that I've made great improvements dealing with my sex offender issues in the last several years, including empathy.  This coincides with the time I have been a member of the UUA and the CLF. I've done soul-searching and work of my own, but I believe I would have remained bogged down by feelings of disconnection and loneliness if not for letters from UUs, and UUWorld magazine, and CLF's monthly Quest. So often I find ideas in these sources that are significant not only to my spirituality but also to my rehabilitation and recovery, articles and words and phrases that support and say to me, "You are not alone!" I thank you all for this great and precious gift.

Finding the CLF in Prison
CLF's Letter Writing Ministry

The CLF's Prison Ministry is funded in part by grants from Unitarian Universalist Funding Program and the Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation.

Last updated October 3, 2007