Welcome to all of you: institutional chaplains, community chaplains, circles representatives and friends of Chaplaincy. It has been three years since our last national conference. It is good to be together again! What a lot of energy, coordination, commitment and people went into making this gathering happen. I am so glad we are all here. Thanks be to God!

Last night we got started with some singing. Let's see if we can keep that momentum going.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? This has been asked for thousands of years. We are asking it again. For me, it breaks down naturally into areas that are important for us to look at:

1. How shall we sing?
2. What is the song?
3. What land are we talking about?

There have been a lot of questions surrounding these themes in the two years since I have been with you as DG. I have been to Chaplaincy gatherings in all the regions where have been questions about how we are doing what we have always done. How shall we sing? There have been questions about the message we are bringing and if it is getting lost. What is the song? And one of the biggest issues has been where are we going? What strange land are we getting into? I would like to get at these questions this morning.

1. How Shall We Sing?

CSC Chaplaincy goes back about 170 years. We are built on faith community connections. Our energy, compassion and purpose have been fuelled by God's own Spirit seeking to bring people to life. In that time we have sung about pastoral priorities that support human dignity. In the early years we were involved with inmate education and then with case management at the institutions and the wardens had ears for our voice. We have led worship, shepherded the prisoner flock, and worked with volunteers and staff. As the years went by we had to become more organized and came into relationship with the Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy.

We started to sing through community chaplains in the 1980s and through Circles work in the 1990s. We put our hearts into supporting Quality Chaplains, Quality Volunteers, Quality Community Chaplains and Quality Initiatives.

Since that time, there has been a noticeable current in the river of our National Chaplains' Conferences.

Our first National Chaplains' Conference was in 1989 in conjunction with the launch of the new CSC Mission. We opened our eyes to Vision and Mission. At the 1991 conference we started using the lens of Restorative Justice and challenged the CSC to do the same thing. By the time 1994 rolled around we realized that it was time to take a New Look at our role as chaplains and the work we were doing. It was clear at the 1997 conference that a big part of our role was that of Bridge Builders for the sake of the reintegration of offenders. We began building more bridges to others in our work. At our last conference, Artisans of Justice, there was a definite sense that we had started walking on those many bridges in institutions and communities.

We have established a solid history of presence over many years and then moved forward by opening our eyes, looking through a lens, viewing our context, put bridges to others in place and starting to walk on them. Now, in new and dynamic ways, we are stepping out into the strange land.

How shall we sing? We have always sung from a pastoral foundation and with a pastoral identity. That doesn't change. We have always sung thoughtfully, prayerfully and with concern for those committed to our care. That doesn't change. We have always sung as representatives of a larger community of God's people. This is a function of our calling - and is what makes us chaplains. That doesn't change. And we have always sung together. That doesn't change.

Chaplaincy has been here since the beginning. Chaplaincy is alive and well today. Chaplaincy will be here tomorrow. Some things never change and never should.

2. What Is The Song?

This song that has echoed over the many years belongs to the Lord. It is a song of hope that resonates with the message that there can be a new beginning, that there are doors and not dead-ends ahead. There are new ways to think and new ways to be. There is healing: Guilt can be addressed, responsibility can be taken and support can be found along the road of repentance and forgiveness. The song is about not being alone - about being part of a community of compassion and living with promises from God who offers to be there for us. It is a song of wonder that invades everything we are and do. It touches despair, alienation, hopelessness and brokenness. You have sung this song in your office, on ranges, in the street, in meetings, in words, in actions and by your very presence. The song may be uncommon and many may not have heard before. But it is the song we sing.

Two years ago, using the language of the CSC, Chaplaincy identified certain directions in which we seek to sing. They've been called "strategic directions." They are really the directions that we turn to sing as song leaders, cantors, or muaddhin. We sing because the Lord gives us the voice and we sing to call others.

We've been singing in our work with Aboriginals, through CoSAs and in community chaplaincy. We are singing to families of offenders, through our partnerships with universities and other prison ministry related groups. We sing of hope in every pastoral care setting. We sing with volunteers in the prisons and we sing as chaplains in the churches. Why, even through the Manual of Religious and Spiritual Accommodation we sing of rights and fairness and dignity. We have called on the Research Branch to help us sing our story, and in careful, sensitive ways we seek to sing quietly to victims. And our volunteers swell the chorus and do amazing things to put the song into practice.

3. What Land Are We Talking About?

We sing the Lord's song in many ways. There is also the strange land that offers its own challenges.

Let's look at the conference logo for a minute. There is a person looking through the strings of a lyre (like prison bars) out onto a new horizon. One day in my office someone said, "I guess the land is strange regardless of which side of the bars you are looking through." Exactly! It is strange to look through the bars from the outside at the world where we spend so much of our energy. It is also strange to look through the bars at the community. For some it is frightening.

There is the strange land of incarceration that includes younger people coming in with more violent crimes. Most of us know about this land and how it tries to operate with its own subculture and rules. It holds a dysfunctional, broken facsimile of community. We know of the casualties in this land and the need for ministry, for visible presence, for the provision of safe space in the chapel. This land is also framed by CSC policies, scrutiny and accountabilities in ever-increasing ways. It is strange, this land.

Then there is the strange land of the community outside that can be seen through the bars. In many ways it is also a broken community. This land includes victims searching for their voice. Not seeing other effective options, there is a cry to "get tough on crime", a desire for vengeance by some or a need for scapegoating by others. This land can be very demanding and unforgiving in its search for a safe community. It is strange, this land.

So Chaplaincy, like the music of that lyre, goes both ways, inside and outside. That puts demands on us to make sure that whatever we are singing is heard, understood and has the impact we intended.

One day in a discussion that I hoped would be about funding, the Commissioner said to me, "Terry, talk to me about results." And that expectation has remained. So as we do our work on the inside and extend our work on the outside, there are voices calling for a reckoning of the fruit of our efforts. We have been calling on regional chaplains, chaplains and Circles people to identify the fruit in new ways. We have been working on the Chaplaincy Impact Study because it gives us the kind of language we have to use. The task is to translate the song and its impact in a way that people working alongside Chaplaincy can understand. This has been difficult because we are so used to bearing witness to changed lives and have not had to be more definitive about what we do. Now we must.

We are asking a lot of questions in order to get at how to best describe and record the impact of our work. As we talk about our connections with faith communities, Health Care, Aboriginal Initiatives, Reintegration efforts, people say, "Oh, really? You do that sort of thing?" And it makes a difference. As we introduce ourselves, get to know people and remove what I have called the "ghettoization" of Chaplaincy, people say: "Chaplaincy is involved in that? I never knew that!" It is a matter of building the bridges, walking on the bridges and stepping into the strange land with a song that is understood. In fact, some of the people out there would like to sing along, staff included. In this strange land today, we need others and others need us.

Let's look ahead between now and the next conference in 2007: Between now and next spring, as we go about being visibly present, let us be more intentionally present. Let us be more inclusive and more collaborative. Let us meet the people we have not yet met and get the song out to them. There will be many who are interested in what we are doing. It is like pulling a choir together.

The next step is to ensure that what we are singing and what people are hearing is the same thing. When songs have clear notes and clear lyrics, they are understood, have an impact and often tell a story. When we say restorative justice, pastoral care, chaplaincy, what are people hearing? When others talk to us about accountability and the need for information, what are we hearing? Without violating our pastoral relationships, we can offer the information that others need to understand what we are saying. We cannot assume that the meaning we attach to our work, language and efforts is understood. We need to become more familiar with the CSC vocabulary so that we can speak about our work to the CSC in clear terms. As we do, others will hear our message and understand our ministry; and the offenders and their families will be better served.

One of the things about meeting people, listening and communicating effectively is that, as things become familiar, the land becomes less strange. New avenues of teamwork open up, trust increases, conflicts can be worked through rather than leading to a shut-down. A continuum of care has a healthy chance of becoming a reality. The vision I have in my mind over the next few years is that of a well-functioning continuum of care involving offenders, chaplains, faith communities, staff and volunteers who, in one way or another, are able to celebrate God's activity in our midst.

Finally, we are moving into a time when we need to rise to the challenge of calling for support around every released offender: day parolees, full parolees, statutory releases, those at warrant expiry need support.

As we sing, as we communicate and strengthen relationships, as we become accustomed to serving in this land that often seems strange, we have the opportunity to serve as catalysts and do everything that we can do to make sure that NOBODY LEAVES ALONE. Chaplaincy always journeys with people in life. This vision is large enough to fill our horizon and clearly means we need others to accomplish it. It is a goal worthy of our energy and passion and our many relationships. It is a new way to sing the Lord's song in a strange land.

The Chaplaincy Leadership Team has been challenged with this initiative: "NOBODY LEAVES ALONE". It is what we already do and are expanding with others. It captures the imagination. It involves everyone we know - a large community of like minded partners. It opens up possibilities: circles, support groups, sponsors, mentoring situations, 12 step groups, Lifeline connections, CAC connections, faith groups, volunteers, staff and family support situations. Families of offenders are like an original support circle. One of the reasons offenders may be at risk of 'leaving along' is that they have not managed to maintain their family relationships throughout the period of their incarceration. There can be new ways to work with families so that such support is available and strong.

Talk about it. Think about it. Pray about it. Let's dream! "Nobody Leaves Alone"- How will you support that? How can you trigger action in your area? How can you challenge people to work for a safer community in this way? Our Chaplaincy journey always involves the accompaniment of others. This is our story and now we sing it out to all.

Is the challenge too big? Sure it is, and no, it is not. Chaplaincy has always been calling people to do big things, to see possibilities, to work with hope and faith, to have a vision larger than ourselves. We have been doing this for nearly 200 years in the areas of education, case management, restorative justice, community support. There is no reason to change now. I invite you to step forward and take on the challenge with me.

How shall we sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land?

We know how to sing - always from a pastoral foundation and identity. We know the song - always a song of hope.

We know the strange land on both sides of the bars - always accompanying people.

And now we want to sing out that Nobody Leaves Alone. This is our song for a strange land, a song that is the Lord's, another chapter in the Chaplaincy songbook.

Amen