By Sr Lini Sheeja MSC –
PMI Ruby Jubilee (1981-2021)
Phantom Fasil (name changed) was a gangster. He had 91 cases pending against him in different courts in Kerala. He was a threat to society and his neighbours were frightened of him. Late Fr George Kuttickal MCBS, one of the PMI pioneers, went to his home one day, kissed his feet and asked him to change his criminal ways. He was touched by this unexpected gesture made by Fr George and it changed his life. For the last 21 years, together with Bro Jolly, he has been serving the Lord by searching for and saving hard-core criminals including gangsters in Kerala. Today, this repentant sinner is in search of lost ones following the footsteps of our Master.
Phantom Fasil turned out to be a messenger of hope, with the message that no one is beyond redemption and God loves sinners the most. Fr Kuttickal had a dream for Phantom Fasil. As PMI celebrates its Ruby Jubilee, we pay homage to all the dreamers who worked for the lost and who are no more today. Yet their simple deeds are engraved in our hearts and the hearts of the redeemed souls.
Where are Your Brethren?
This true story invites humanity to understand the strong belief of PMI that no one is born a criminal and no one is beyond redemption. Phantom Fasil was not born a criminal but was branded a criminal by society. Every criminal/prisoner whom PMI volunteers encounter is a God-given gift. The thief on the cross who was redeemed was the Father’s gift to Jesus. They are our brethren and we accompany them on their journey to receive God’s mercy and grace. As God asked Cain, where is your brother? In Genesis 4:9, the same God asks each one of us where are our brothers and sisters? For PMI volunteers, our brothers and sisters are behind the bars and we encounter our living God in their brokenness and woundedness. Jesus too was broken on the Cross; salvation came to the world from His brokenness. God had a dream to redeem humanity through the brokenness of Jesus.
One Kiss and a Few Words
In the November 1947 issue of Harijan, Gandhi wrote, “All criminals should be treated as patients and the jails should be hospitals admitting this class of patients for treatment and cure. No one commits crime for the fun of it. It is a sign of a diseased mind.” No one commits a crime for fun, acclaimed Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation. There are so many Phantom Fasils that need to be redeemed, need to be healed. One kiss at Phantom Fasil’s feet by Fr Kuttickal renewed him and God in His mercy redeemed him. Renew a prisoner today, better the world tomorrow.
Prominent Conceptualizations
Insider’s Concept – Can you give me a Second Chance?
“I believe in miracles…… with God’s grace miracles will happen; I hope the Singapore government will spare his life”, said the sister of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingan (33), sentenced to death in 2010 for importing 42.7 grams of heroin, on 15 November 2021. The family was pleading with the Singapore government to give him a second chance. Could you give me a second chance is the cry of most of our brethren!
In 2018, during one of my visits to the prison, I met a 25-year-old man, an undertrial prisoner lodged under the POCSO case. His paternal aunt had lodged a complaint of abusing her daughter. He said to me, “Sister, I haven’t done that severe a crime as they are accusing me of. Yes, I just touched the girl! Will she not give me a second chance to live my life? Am I a criminal? Am I going to be imprisoned for life?”
This is the cry of our brethren behind the bars. Most of the time when we read about rape cases in the media our blood boils. But when we meet the accused, often they would ask this question, “Can you give me a second chance?” Jesus, on the cross, while forgiving the sinner, did not ask about his past. He only looked at his present situation and gave him a bright future. Every one of our broken brethren needs to be provided with a future to look forward to.
Outsiders’ Concept – Once in Jail, always in Jail
In 2019, I received a call from a 32-year-old woman from Palayamkottai, Tamilnadu saying that she was the wife of a prisoner who was serving his life imprisonment in Palayamkottai Central Prison, Tamilnadu. She asked for medical assistance for her children and we provided it immediately. After a month she called me and said, “Sister, my children are not willing to go to school as her classmates became aware of their father’s imprisonment and this is the third school that my little ones have been forced to change.”
Children of prisoners are looked down upon by society. We have decreased in our ability to be compassionate and increased in our ability to condemn. It’s a wrong notion that society holds that once in jail, always in jail. If Jesus had thought thus, He would never have gone in search of the lost sheep amidst thorns and thistles.
Jesus’ Concept – 1 is more than 99
The venerable Cardinal Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan during his preaching of spiritual exercises to the Roman Curia in 2000, recorded in his book, Testimony of Hope said, “He left everything to follow Jesus because he loves the defects of Jesus.” He said about Jesus’ “second defect,” i.e., that Jesus does not know maths. He said, “If Jesus would have taken a mathematics exam, he might have failed. He indicates this in the parable of the lost sheep. A shepherd has one hundred sheep. One of them becomes lost, and, without delay, he sets out in search of it, leaving the other ninety-nine in the wilderness. Finding it, he puts the poor creature on his shoulders and returns to the fold. For Jesus, one is equal to ninety-nine – and perhaps more! Who would ever accept this? But his mercy reaches from generation to generation…. When it is a matter of saving the lost sheep, Jesus does not become discouraged by any risk or by any effort.” Love for sinners made Jesus take on any amount of risk. Jesus had a dream for the lost one.
PMI Ruby Jubilee – Year of Dream Realization
Prison Ministry India was born on 8 December 1981 at St Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Kottayam with the motto of “be a love bomb, let it be broken; not to kill, but to heal the broken hearted”. Bro Francis Kodiyan MCBS and Bro Varghese Karippery formed a prayer group and began to visit the peripheries of Kottayam such as slums, beggars’ colony, old-age homes, orphanages and the sub-jail of Kottayam. On 28 February 1986 the Jesus Fraternity prayer group members set forth for an All Kerala Prison Pilgrimage which brought forth innumerable blessings both on prisoners and the pilgrims. They found great joy in seeking and saving the lost as Jesus who said, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep”. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Lk 15, 1-7).
PMI volunteers from the time of it’s inception had been the true love bombs in search of the lost ones and to realize the dreams of the lost. PMI Ruby Jubilee year was a year of dream realization for us. 40 houses for prisoners is dream realization, 4 books of PMI publication in this ruby jubilee year is dream realization. 4 new Kolbe Homes for prisoners’ children is dream realization. 40 Special Task Forces for prisoners across the globe is dream realization. Education scholarship for 400 prisoners’ children is our dream realization. Releasing 400 prisoners as part of PMI ruby jubilee and giving them a bright future is our dream realization. God’s mercy was abundant that we could realize our dreams for the lost.
PMI Volunteers – The Dreamers
“I am the One who erases all your sins, for my sake; I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25), declares the God of the Lost in His tenderness and mercy. When God forgives our sins, He forgets them. That means He no longer holds our sins against us. This is the message of hope carried by every committed and passionate PMI volunteer to the dark cells and the darkened heart of each broken brethren of ours behind the bars. “The whole church in fidelity to the mission received from Christ is called to show the most vulnerable people the mercy of God,” said Pope Francis, “We will be judged on this,” to the participants of an international meeting of national and regional directors of Catholic Prison Ministries on 8 November 2019. Incarcerated ones too have their dignity; they too have likes and dislikes; they too have a desire for the future; they too have dreams. Can we the dreamers join hands together to fulfil the dreams of the incarcerated, rejected, dejected, broken and vulnerable? If you have dreams for the incarcerated do join hands with us!
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, belongs to the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC). She is a Social Worker by profession and she served as the team member of Childline (BOSCO). She stood for the upliftment of women and children in slums in Bangalore, formed many self-help groups to empower women. She served as the Medico Social Worker at St John’s Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru as she dedicated her life there for Geriatrics. She believes in “My God provides and so no child should go uneducated” which is her strength and moves her to pick up vulnerable children and educate them. She also served as the National Secretary of Prison Ministry India and Chief Editor of Prison Voice – a national monthly magazine.