Ep. 1
Airdate – Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014
A Tennessee prosecutor struggles to reconcile his work with his faith after he befriends a prisoner he put behind bars.
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Questions for reflection and conversation:
1. What do you think of Preston’s story? How did it make you feel? Did he have a reason to repent? Why or why not?
2. Visit the website for the film or other sources and reflect on the statistics about the U.S. prison system and how race, poverty, lack of adequate representation, and politics function in a system that does not see the human person in the criminal justice system, and where revenge replaces rehabilitation. What response does this information evoke from you?
3. Preston talks about the disconnect between his faith and his work, about the consequences of judging people without knowing them. This thing that you’re doing for Lent, how is it bringing your faith life together with your everyday life?
4. Think about the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and the consequences of personal and social sin. What, then, do the ashes on your forehead mean in the light of what you’ve seen in the film?
5. What is your resolution for Lent? How do you want to blend your faith and life more fully this Lenten season? Be specific.
3 Comments
Thank you INNetwork, Sr Rose, Jordan, Jesse, Preston, and Cyntoia for your informative, moving, and reflective, “Redemption of the Prosecutor.”
No doubt you have read, but, per chance you have not, I’d like to highly recommend Michelle Alexander’s, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness.” Not unlike the statistics you include in your film, this book is disturbing, revelatory, and, ultimately, hopefully, life changing for those who subscribe to a faith that does justice.
Thank you so very much Sister Rose. This spoke to my heart. And thank you also Jeffrey for sharing the title of that book. It is now on my wish list.
My husband and I have been volunteers in prison ministry for over twenty-five years. I was even an employee of the state of Missouri for eight of those years.
I finally had to retire from a position that I just fell into, because I could no longer straddle the fence. My heart was with the men with whom I worked, and the work I was doing was for the state. It was incongruent with my beliefs. They are real people with feelings and hurts that made poor decisions based on their life experiences, and I was expected to look at and treat them as animals.
I could relate to everything Preston said and felt. I finally retired to go back in as a volunteer almost three years ago and am loving it again!