Your parish or faith group can join a vibrant community of Pact supporters who share common values and a desire to help prisoners, people with convictions and their families to make a fresh start.

We believe in the innate worth and dignity of every human being, whatever they may have done. We believe in walking alongside those affected by imprisonment, for whom life may be unbearably difficult but who are nevertheless part of ‘us’. We believe in the value of listening to those among us who have lived experience of the criminal justice system. We ensure that those voices shape change in Pact, in the criminal justice system, and in parishes.

This work is a direct expression of our discipleship and a very concrete expression of our desire to serve the Lord in those who are most vulnerable. - Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Pact President

Pact is the major Catholic prisons charity, having been founded in 1898 as the Catholic Prisoners' Aid Society. We work in partnership with Bishop Richard Moth, Liaison Bishop for Prisons at the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. We work in prisons and communities across all 22 dioceses. 

There are many ways you can ‘visit’ those in prison:

• Be a Pact Parish Representative sharing news and information from Pact. Keep the people we serve in the hearts and minds of people in your parish. Contact our Faith in Action Team to find out more.
• Mark Prisoners’ Sunday in October each year – 8^th October in 2023. This is when the whole Christian community can be united in prayer for, and with, people affected by the criminal justice system. We humbly ask parishes to hold a second collection to support Pact on Prisoners’ Sunday. Prisons Week follows Prisoners’ Sunday.
• Sign up to Fresh Start magazine as a parish or as an individual. It’s free. Fresh Start keeps you in touch with our work and the lives of the people we serve.
• Get involved in Pact’s Christmas gift appeal Operation Elf. This is how we support parents in prison to give a gift to their child, strengthening family bonds at what can be a particularly difficult time.
• Reflect more deeply on Catholic Social Teaching and the Common Good through the lens of the criminal justice system. At our JustPeople workshops you can meet with others in person or online and do this together.
• Volunteer with Pact. We offer full training and support. You might welcome families in a Pact Visitor Centre at a prison. You might support someone in the community through befriending. You might answer the phone on our National Prisoners’ Families Helpline.
• Support Pact’s work financially through a one-off or regular donation.
• Prayer can transform lives and intractable situations. Do regularly include prisoners, people with convictions and their families in the prayer life of your parish or group.

Your efforts, thoughts and prayers mean a lot both to prisoners and to their families.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You have come so that we may
have life to the full,
Listen to our prayers for all in prison
and their families,
Touched by your spirit,
May they find newness of heart
and be open to that new life that is
found only in you.
May they know care, and receive
support from those around them.
May they find new purpose
in serving you in their
brothers and sisters.
Amen

Written by Rt. Rev. Richard Moth, Liaison Bishop for Prisons
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales.    

Get in Touch

Theresa Alessandro, Catholic Community Engagement Manager

Marie Norbury, Faith in Action Volunteering Manager

[email protected]

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