When the Church Doesn't Know What to Do With Our Pain

Recently, I spoke with a mother whose story has stayed with me.

For years she faithfully attended church while carrying the daily burden of having a child in prison.

She requested meetings with her pastor.

She reached out to church leadership.

She asked about beginning a support group for families impacted by incarceration.

She waited.

Nothing happened.

Week after week, she worshiped on Sunday, smiled through the service, and returned home carrying the same fear, the same anxiety, and the same unanswered questions about her child's safety.

Eventually, she stopped coming.

Not because she stopped believing in God.

Not because she stopped loving the Church.

But because she no longer believed the Church had room for one of the greatest burdens of her life.

Her story should cause all of us to pause.

Mass incarceration is not only a legal issue.

It is a pastoral issue.

Behind every incarcerated person is a family searching for hope, prayer, guidance, and community.

The Church has always been called to stand with those who are hurting. Sometimes that means we don't have all the answers. But we can still sit beside someone in their pain. We can listen. We can pray. We can create spaces where families know they are not carrying their burdens alone.

The question before us is not whether our congregations are affected by incarceration.

They already are.

The question is whether those families know the Church is ready to walk with them.

At A Mother's Cry, we believe they should never have to wonder.

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