Category Archives: Newsletter

Home Archive by category "Newsletter" (Page 2)

July 2019 Newsletter

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...
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May 2019 Newsletter

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...
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March 2019 Newsletter

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...
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February 2019 Newsletter

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...
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January 2019 Newsletter

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...
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April 2019 Newsletter

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...
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Happy Holidays from ACCSS!

Brothers and sisters, On behalf of the ACCSS board, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a very happy and blessed holiday. We are currently in the midst of celebrating Chanukah - the Festival of Lights. I’d like to share with you a profound and timely message from my...
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December 2018 Newsletter

For the past four years my father has been suffering from, and declining from, Alzheimer’s disease. And for over a year now he has been at a care facility. I try and make it every week or so to see him and admittedly I often find myself doing it more for the sake of giving […]...
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September 2018 Newsletter

Sitting in the shade arbor, listening to the brightly colored prayer flags flapping in the breeze. Looking around on the far side of the camp, I see elders talking with their families and children laughing near the camp kitchen. Close by a circle of young men, sit with their drumsticks around a larg...
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July 2018 Newsletter

Bulletproof Faith The condemned seek solace from their death row companion, a chaplain Father George Williams, the Catholic chaplain at San Quentin State Prison, wears a bulletproof vest as he celebrates mass for death row inmates. (Photo courtesy: San Quentin State Prison) By Rachel Fobar The Medil...
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