Send a Bible to a Prisoner!
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
The CTS Christmas Appeal 2008
This year for the first time we’re running a Christmas appeal. Through this appeal we want to reach out to people who might not ordinarily be able to pick up a CTS publication, but who would really benefit from reading the word of God.
“I was in prison and you visited me”
Over the years CTS has received many requests from those in prison for free copies of our books, and we’ve always been pleased to help them. This set us thinking that maybe we could develop an outreach to prisoners to supply them with the books that they need.
As a result we met earlier this year with many prison chaplains from around the UK and offered to supply them with free copies of the CTS’s New Catholic Bible.
Naturally they were delighted: they have very little budget for resources and no other charities are offering to supply them with free Catholic Bibles. To date we’ve received requests for over 500 Bibles, with more coming in all the time.
Here are some examples of what the chaplains are saying:
“If you could donate bibles to us, we would be very grateful! It would be especially good to have some for our study groups which up to 12 boys attend.”
“Our allowance in the Chaplaincy budget for Catholic materials is only £100 per year. As you can imagine this is hopeless and as a result our resources are few.”
“I would like to have half or a dozen Bibles to use in study groups as we have no Catholic Bibles available at the prison I work for.”
As I am sure you will appreciate, a prisoner’s time in jail can be a time of crisis for them. They are separated from friends and family, and have a lot of time to reflect on their life. In this way it can also be a time of grace for them, a time to be open to the word of God. Prison chaplains try to help prisoners through this time, and if they can offer them a Bible, this can help them come closer to God and help them renew their lives.
Can you help?
CTS is committed to supplying as many Bibles to prison chaplains as we can, but we need gifts from people like you to make this happen.
If you would like to donate Bibles to be sent to prisoners, then please follow this link: instructions on how to donate are given on the page.
Thank you for your generous support for this Christmas appeal.
Fergal Martin
General Secretary of the CTS