2013-09-05   Fr. Dominic Emmanuel SVD   Sr Inigo's articles on this website

Sparkling Eyes at Tihar Jail     (Comments welcome here)

Each pair of eyes of Tihar jail inmates tell a different story of their experiences before and during their painful but expectant time that they spend there.

 ^{On July 26, however, the same pair of eyes sparkled with joy and enthusiasm while at the same time flashed with hope and love. All this because Sr. Inigo and her community arranged the celebration of the feast of St. Joachim and Anne, which also coincides with the feast of her Congregation at one of the jails at Tihar. This unique and creative practice of expressing special love towards the unfortunate jail inmates has been going on ever since Sr. Inigo completed her term as the Superior General of her Congregation and took over prison ministry in Delhi.}

This year, Archbishop Anil J T Couto, who had been a regular visitor to both Tihar and Rohini jails as an auxiliary bishop here, was the main celebrant for the mass held at Jail # 4 along with at least ten more priests. As the Archbishop of Delhi, this was his first visit to Tihar. Before going to the prison, the Archbishop went to the Prison Head office to acquire a long-term entry pass for his car so that he could continue his former practice of visiting the less fortunate brethren there.

I noticed that this year the number of both the inmates of the jail as well as the guests invited by Sr. Inigo was quite large. As usual, Sr. Inigo gave the introduction and explained to the inmates as to why she thought it was important for her and for the Archbishop along with the rest of us to be celebrating the joy and grace of the feast of her Congregation with them.

Archbishop Couto shared a bilingual Hindi and English homily (with a spurting of Punjabi words too in between) emphasizing God’s love and care for each one of us but particularly for them and saying that God never leaves us alone. Prior to the mass, some inmates also made a confession.

For me personally, a visit to the prison each time and particularly on the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, is a precious and profound experience. Last Holy Thursday I had an opportunity to wash the feet of the inmates at the same jail. Much as everyone would have liked to spend more time with the inmates, the jail has to abide by its rules and so the heart moving programme ended with a high tea on the green lawns of jail # 4.

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