Fr David Pickett, Rector of St Oswald’s, Guiseley, and St Paul’s, Esholt

ARE you a reader? I am. An avid reader in fact. As a priest, but also an ordinary man, I rotate books on theology with books on everyday subjects. My last book was on Christian apologetics (defending the Christian faith), whilst my current choice of reading is called ‘Inside Parkhurst: Stories of a Prison Officer’.

Today, at time of writing, the Church remembers Vincent de Paul, a 17th Century priest who devoted himself and all he owned to charity. He founded communities for men and, with the help of Louise de Marillac, helped begin the Sisters of Charity, the first community of women not to be enclosed and which was devoted to caring for the poor and marginalised. Many of these were prisoners.

As someone who was brought up in a tough mining town in the Valleys of South Wales, many of my friends, and indeed family members, have found themselves on the wrong side of the law, ending up incarcerated in one of Her Majesty’s prison establishments.

Offending and how to deal with offenders is an emotive subject for many in our land, especially the media who – probably by a large majority – think that punishment should fit the crime. I’m not sure I disagree with them.

But whilst men and women are incarcerated for crimes ranging from relatively minor to those most serious, it must be awful to be locked up in a small cell for up to 22 hours a day for months, even years on end. And then there’s the question of capital punishment, an even more emotive subject.

Like everything in life, I take my direction from the teachings of the Bible, especially the words of Jesus. In today’s Gospel passage from St Matthew, Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus tells His disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right…’I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Even though they have committed crimes, sometimes terrible crimes, prisoners are still human beings. Vincent de Paul knew this, and that is why he tended to them and visited them. As for me, when I start to feel judgemental, I think of the words ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’