We continue our journey through Fall towards winter, with the hour change, the colder weather and the more prevalent darkness. We see the reality of cyclical decay, darkness, and death, which will later give way to new birth. Of course, we know this change is coming and we prepare for it, even accep...

“How can I align my life with that spiritual intelligence that is written within my own DNA?” The Sun comes up, evening morning and we offer prayer and song to greet the new day. Everything comes alive and wakes up; water, plants, people, animals, birds, and the trees. And in turn, night follows...

My dear brothers and sisters in state service: It has thus far been an exciting and uplifting tenure as President of ACCSS. When I was elected President of ACCSS, my main goal was to find ways of ensuring our concerns and issues affecting the Chaplaincy continued to be addressed. Additional goals we...

On a clear day, you can see forever… The greatest thing a human being does in this world is to see something…… To see clearly, poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one. - John Ruskin Although sight is a miraculous gift, we barely scratch the surface of really seeing this vast universe and how...

What is spirituality? My understanding is that everything has a spirit to it. The two-legged human beings, the four-legged animals, the ones that crawl and the ones that fly, the plants, our water, our ancestors, the wind as well as everything above and below us -- has a spirit to it. It's said that...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I pray this newsletter finds you in good spirits. Briefly, I would like to share something on faith. By “faith” I mean having complete trust or confidence in someone or something. I believe we can all say that throughout our lives at some point we’ve been let down by...

As we approach the 2019 tax season, I thought it would be a good idea to provide everyone with some information on Parsonage/housing allowance. Per California State law AB 243 all State Chaplains qualify for applying up to half their salary for clergy housing allowance. Please note that there are sp...

Chaplain Sam Smolinisky is the Catholic Chaplain Pelican Bay State Prison. For Catholics, we are currently in the time of Lent, a communitarian journey of conversion towards Holy Week and Easter. Chaplain Sam reflects on that journey, the challenges of starting his ministry at the time of the Inmate...