Joan Chittister Fund for Prisoners
The Joan Chittister Fund for Prisoners was initiated in response to numerous requests for spiritual materials from prison chaplains and individual prisoners. Benetvision sends materials FREE to a network of prison chaplains and volunteers in dozens of prisons in the United States. Individual requests from those in prison are also honored. (10% of donations made to Monasteries of the Heart will be used to begin Monasteries of the Heart groups in prisons.) Pictured above are Prison Chaplain Jackie Burns and Sister Rosanne Lindal-Hynes, liaison staff for the Fund for Prisoners.

Letter from a Prisoner
Dear Joan, During most of my life I have suffered from addiction. Which in turn has led to over 19 years of incarceration. During those years of turmoil, my spirituality was nonexistent. There was no time to think about anything of that sort. I was in the county jail when the chaplain introduced me to The Monastic Way. At first I was very skeptical. I decided to give it a try. Lo and behold, I actually found it very enlightening. I really enjoy how they give you one topic for each month. That makes it not so overwhelming. Every day I am given a new thought to contemplate. I cannot begin to tell you how much it has changed me. Especially in the way I view the world. I spend more time focusing on me instead of it. I look forward every day to how I will be inspired by your words. Thank you very much for reaching out to me and to others. –D.D.M., Dane County Jail, Madison, WI.

Letter from a Prison Chaplain
Dearest Sister Joan, 
The thank you card that the prisoners made for you is sitting on my desk at the SF County Jail. I will send it to you when I return to my work in March. In the meantime I wanted to thank you for the huge difference your 12 Steps to Inner Freedom, as well as the beauty-full Journal has made. As one woman put it, she hangs on every word and another said that keeping her journal makes her feel as if she is writing her own prayer book. But it is The Monastic Way that they ALL seem to have responded to--women and men...they ask for it every month and I encourage them to write to you on their own. 

I pray they have, for their words are so very precious. Thank you and continued blessings to all of you...In love and sisterhood, Muin Daly, Religious Services Coordinator, San Francisco, CA. 


Click here for more information and to donate to the Fund for Prisoners