When you hear about the Works of Mercy, when was the last time you heard about this one? It is actually prevented from being accomplished in today’s world, but here’s how to join us in a way that you can do from home.

What Work of Mercy is it?

Visit the imprisoned.

Prisons are locked down with no visitors–not even relatives–allowed in. So what can anyone do?

A good friend of ours, Eric Genuis, has a prison ministry that is as unique as it is far-reaching. Eric is a renowned concert pianist and composer. He composes and performs most of the music for our Glory Stories saint stories, Holy Heroes Inside the Sacraments DVDs, and we also have several of his music CDs for sale on our website (some are solo Eric on piano or his piano with violin, and others are full orchestral recordings by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra).

Through his “Concerts for Hope,” Eric brings world-class musicians to prisons to present a beauty which most inmates have never encountered.

But he and his musicians haven’t been allowed into prisons for 5 months now due to the pandemic, so he has developed another program to “visit” prisoners through the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Clara explains it all in the short video below and asks for you to join us–from your own home. This is an urgent project with a 2-week timeline, so please watch and help us if you can.

PLEASE WATCH:

This is a Corporal Work of Mercy that is so very rarely performed–and so very much needed right now.

Prison libraries are small, and after 5 months of lock-down, we’re told many prisoners have read all the books they have in them.

We cannot physically go to these prisons right now, but we can send books and through these books you are visiting the prisoners with your love. Christ Himself was a prisoner, as were many of the Apostles and many saints, martyrs, and Catholics around the world today.

Please join us, your Holy Heroes Adventure Guides, and Eric Genuis in assuring these inmates that they are not forgotten.

Please address the books you mail (and do so before August 6th) to:

Deputy Director Nena Staley (with Eric Genuis)

“Books behind Bars”–South Carolina Dept of Corrections

4444 Broad River Road

Columbia, SC. 29210

They accept all books: novels, fiction, nonfiction, mystery, suspense, children’s books, series collections, religious, and more! They will NOT accept books that glorify violence and crime, nor romance books that are sexually explicit or pornographic.

Please: all reading levels are accepted, as prisoners have varying degrees of education and reading abilities. Even children’s books are wanted.

We are donating several dozen of our Picture Bibles and others of our publications, plus as many books we can gather from our home, thrift stores, and flea markets! We’ve been cleaning out side attics for months–now we know what to do with them! All books are welcome!

If you would like to learn more about Concerts for Hope, Eric Genuis has created this short video below. Our family has been a monthly donor to this works for years now:

PS Want some materials for all ages to teach your children about the Works of Mercy? The 7 Spiritual as well as the 7 Corporal Works? We have a variety of materials from full-color books to coloring books  (and even a card game!) plus insight from Saints Faustina and Mother Teresa of Calcutta–>just click here.  Through performing the Works of Mercy, Christ transforms our souls and hearts in His Image!

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