Prison Chaplaincy Service Ecumenical

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30830, 16 August 1965, Page 18

Prison Chaplaincy Service Ecumenical

it was now 12 years since the first official part-time chaplain to the Justice Department was approved by the National Council of Churches, and 10 years since the first fuH-time appointment, the senior prison chaplain, the Rev. E. S. Hoddhiott, reported to the an-

nual meeting of the Nation? Council of Churches in Wai ganui. An ecumenical prison cha latacy service was now an e tablished part of the pen programme in New Zealan and it was only occasional that one found the formtype of denominational mintry preferred, said Mr Hodinott. jt was nonsense to bene? that any one denominate had something added to gi? in its ministry to a perl population, said Mr Hoddino. It was obvious that religios programmes varied accordig to differing gifts of the derr. A chaplain’s flair for teasing and organisation was «• floated in the reiigioua pigramme of his institution.

Counselling AM the full-time and mrt of the part-time chaplains rd attended a course on countlling techniques conducted >y Dr. D. O. Williams last Apd. In December, 1964, the ret course in clinical counsellig in penal institutions was naugurated. A developing feature of » prison religious programie had been the emergence of prison choirs and the "sjof "modern" music, said Mr bddinott. Remembering that mosnnmates were under 25 and qite unfamiliar with church mtic, it was not surprising that ley regarded it as not qite “square” but “double squte ” There was a genuine espouse to such music as Beutmont’s Folk Mass, and at ast five chaplains had experiiented successfully along sinlar lines, said Mr Hoddinott.