Category Archives: From the Editor's Desk

Last Letter “From the President’s Desk”

Hello to All of You!

I hope you are enjoying this season of Spring, and the new life that is beginning to bud.  To every one of the Christian faith, I trust that you had a wonderful celebration of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  To our Jewish friends, I pray that the Passover celebration, with your family and friends, is an enjoyable and treasured time.

This will be my last letter From the President’s Desk.

I wanted to say “thank you,” for allowing me to serve in the capacity of both vice president and president of the PPCA Executive Committee over the last three years.

At the end of June, I will be leaving the Department of Corrections (DOC).

The Lord has impressed on me not to renew my contract.  I knew when I took the job that I wouldn’t be a DOC contract vendor forever.  So, I’m stepping out in faith, and obeying what God has spoken to me.

When I turn in my keys for the last time I know it won’t be easy.  Prison has been good to me and good for me.  If you had told me 10 years ago that those words would ever come out of my mouth, I would have said you were crazy!

But prison has opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know anything about, and to many wonderful people of different faiths.  If God had not allowed me this journey, I would still have tunnel vision in many areas.

It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve alongside the members of the PPCA committee.  You are a wonderful group of people, and my husband, Donnie, and I will miss each of you.  Keep up the good work!

To each of you chaplains who serve on the front lines every day, I salute you and hold you in high regard for the job you do.  You will remain in my heart and in my prayers.

Again, thank you for allowing me to be a part of something Great!

Peace and Blessings,
Chaplain Brenda Libreatori

From The Editor’s Desk

Salaam, Shalom, and Greetings of Peace Members …

Welcome to our new website!

Please take a moment to surf around.  In the coming months, we’ll be adding new articles to the site which we hope you will find beneficial and enjoyable.  We hope that you all will contribute to this site because, after all, it is YOUR site!  Send your submission(s) to me, Sister Safiyyah, at pennsylvaniaprisonchaplains@gmail.com  I will review it and submit it to our Editorial Review Committee.  We ask you to be aware of copyright rules.  You can send us your original submissions.  Or you can send us another article as long as you have obtained permission from the author to re-publish their work on our site.

A few housekeeping notes …

Notice that we have a subscription link on the right side bar of this site.  Feel free to “sign up” if you would like to receive notification of new additions to the site by email.

The authors of articles on our website welcome Comments.  Feel free to drop them a comment by using the “Leave a Comment” link featured within each article.  The Pennsylvania Prison Chaplains Association reserves the right to delete any inappropriate or offensive comment, whether it be from one of our members or from the public.  Members, do remember that this site is open to the public.

If any of our members have any photos from our conferences, please send them to me.  In the future, I intend, God willing, to open a Flickr account for us (photo sharing) that I will link to this site.

As well, I will add a PayPal/credit card link to this site to make it easier for you all to pay annual dues and any conference fees, etc.

Notice that our site is currently enjoying “snow,” which is a website extra available for the holidays compliments of WordPress.com!

Last of all, the initial notification of our site launch is only going out to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) chaplains and a few county chaplains for whom I have email addresses.  Please forgive us, as I am in the process of working with our new secretary to develop a solid membership list that includes phone numbers and email addresses.

DOC chaplains:  email will be sent to you at your institutions through Rev. Ulli Klemm.

County chaplains and volunteers:  please be sure you provide me with an email address.  If your institution has an email security filter, ensure that you give us an alternate address.

Whew!  I think that’s all for now. 

In this special spiritual season of Ramadan, Eid, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Dios de Los Reyes, and others, the Executive Board wishes all of you and your families well.