St. Joe's Dispatch | May 28th, 2025
I. From the Desk of the Rev. Victoria Larson, congregant
Dear ones –
Earlier this month, I spent a few hours in a well-appointed children’s playroom, watching a not-quite-three-year-old shriek with delight as his mother played chase with him. The space was painted with bright colors and hung with children’s artwork. It smelled like the cookies the mom had baked earlier. A children’s show was playing on the TV in the corner. It was easy to forget the barbed wire just outside, the patdown required before I could pass through the gatehouse door, the slam of it behind me; the mom is a resident of the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, and her son was with her for his monthly three-hour visitation, sponsored through a program called MATCH (Mothers And Their Children).
I’d never been inside a prison until the spring of last year, when Vicar Lauren invited me to TA for a class she was teaching at the prison. When the class ended, I wanted to stay involved. I joined St. Joe’s prison ministry, which leads Sunday worship quarterly at NCCIW. Uniquely, St. Joe’s also leads monthly religious programming in single-cell areas of NCCIW—that is, in solitary confinement and on death row. We are now hoping to expand MATCH’s roster of volunteers too; contact Vicar Lauren for more information.
I believe that God is at work everywhere, but to adapt a phrase from liberation theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, God has a preferential option for those in prison. Jesus’ first sermon has been hitting me more urgently since I started spending time at NCCIW: “I have come to proclaim release to the captives,” he told his listeners, and: “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:20-21).
While I trust Christ to fulfill this scripture, I confess that I have trouble believing Christ can do it through me. Every time I walk into NCCIW, I’m afraid that I will say or do the wrong thing to women who are living through the profoundly isolating and dehumanizing experience of incarceration.
When I got pregnant a few months ago, this anxiety increased in direct proportion to the size of my belly. Over half (58%) of the 190,000 women living in U.S. prisons are mothers, and most of them were primary caregivers for their children before their incarceration. I worried that my body would remind the residents at NCCIW of the families they couldn’t be with, especially as Mother’s Day—one of the worst days of the year in a women’s prison—got closer just as I was undeniably starting to show. But when my belly and I went to NCCIW, first for Easter and then for the monthly single-cell worship just before Mother’s Day, several residents welcomed me with particular warmth, asked about my due date, offered me excellent advice, told me stories of their own births and parenthood, and asked me to pray with them for their children.
These women clearly cherished their identities as mothers. While I’d been afraid that my belly would remind them of all that they were missing, instead it seemed to affirm what they had. In the middle of a system that designates them over and over as “offenders,” my body opened the door to conversations where they were once again “moms.”
In the MATCH center, there’s a sign taped to the volunteer table that gives instructions about how to call in for the thrice-daily check to make sure every person in the prison is accounted for. Someone has taken a thick black marker and crossed out the word “offender” and replaced it with “MOM” in the two places it appears on the sign. This is a way in which the gospel was fulfilled for me, a reminder of some of the ways that the Spirit works through St. Joe’s presence in that place: seeing the residents of NCCIW as the humans they are, refusing to reduce them to whatever act brought them into the justice system, expecting to perceive in them the image of God—the same God who asks, “Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you.” (Is. 49:15).
In Easter expectation,
Victoria
A post-script from the Vicar: Victoria and James welcomed baby Rosie last week! You can find a meal train link below, if you’d like to bring them a meal. Please also pray for Rosie: the Magnificat (the song pregnant Mary prayed during her visit to her cousin Elizabeth) or our prayerbook’s prayers for safe delivery and for parents, might be apt. You can find them here.
II. Announcements
Eucharist for the Eve of the Ascension * Tonight, May 28 at 6:00 pm in the church.
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Fellowship Opportunity for Folks 40 & Older * Newcomers and others! If you’re 40+, please join us at our monthly St. Joe’s “Food & Fellowship” lunch! We will gather at The Refectory Cafe at 11:45 am today, Wednesday, May 28, to enjoy each other's company and welcome newcomers into the weave of St. Joe's parish life. Questions? Email Julia Hoyle, or Frances Dowell.
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Meal Train for the Krause family * If you'd like to participate in a meal train for the Krauses, please follow this link.
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Meal Train for Victoria, James, and Rosie * If you'd like to participate in a meal train as they settle into life as a new family of three, please follow this link.
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Spiritual Practices for Resilience and Resistance * June 5, and June 16, from 7:00- 8:30 pm at Vicar Lauren’s home. Questions? Email Vicar Lauren.
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Overdose Response and Sharps Safety Training * On June 4 at 6:30 pm following Evening Prayer, an official from the Durham County Department of Health will give a presentation on drug overdose first aid in the parish hall. The presentation will consider how to identify an overdose, how to use Narcan, and best practices when handling hazardous materials. Everyone is warmly invited to attend. Questions? Email Fr. Lachlan.
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Tuesday morning prayer leadership * Beginning on June 17 we will be looking for someone to lead morning prayer on Tuesday mornings. If you are interested in serving on the rota or in making this your permanent day to lead prayer please reach out to me. It is a wonderful way to begin a morning in our beautiful sanctuary. Email Hannah.
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Spiritual Friendship Group for young adults (~20 to 39) * Wednesday evenings following Evening Prayer a group is gathering to read through the book of Acts. We will walk together to a nearby food location (likely Cosmic Cantina) for a time of fellowship and a time or reading scripture in community. Questions? Email Sarah Ruiz.
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Migrant God book conversation with Isaac Villegas * Tuesday, June 10, 7:00-8:30 pm at Vicar Lauren’s home. Questions? Email Vicar Lauren.
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Confirmation Sunday and Bishop Visitation * Sunday, June 15, 10:30 am Eucharist service in the church.
III. Vestry Highlights
Diocesan Grants--As a mission church, St. Joseph's depends on funds beyond parishioners' contributions to operate. Vicar Lauren and Sr. Warden James Chappel requested funds from two diocesan sources: the Missionary Resource Support Team Grant (which helps pay some of clergy's salaries) and the Mission Endowment Grant (which funds the Sunday Evening Euchartist). Say a prayer!
Property Development Committee-- A first step in imagining expanded vision and mission for St. Joe's is to have a professional survey done of the property. This will be done in June, and an architectural "massing study" (which would tell us what our footprint would allow in terms of possible development) will be conducted in the future.
Breakfast Fundraiser--$50,000 has been raised so far, an increase of $10,000 from last year's drive. Roughly 40 St. Josephites solicited funds from about 275 friends and family members. Our clergy raised more than 25% of that $50,000. While the vestry is grateful for their efforts, we hope the success of next year‘s fundraiser will be the result of more solicitation on the part of St. Joe’s parishioners, and less on the part of our hard-working part-time staff.
IV. Art
V. Community Events
Opioid Settlement Community Meeting * Thursday, June 5, 5:30-7:00 pm, Durham County Department of Public Health. This annual community meeting will share how Durham County is using its opioid settlement funds to address the opioid epidemic. Learn more here.