Penitentiaries and Plasticity

One year, whilst in the seminary, I was assigned to a maximum-security prison for my pastoral field education under the supervision of a superb laywoman who now serves in a senior post in my diocese.  It was there that I gained considerable--albeit limited--insight to prison culture and human nature.

It was something of an open secret that prison life amounted to little more than a back-and-forth power play between the inmates and the guards; in fact, it was difficult to see where "reform" played a role in the prison system, apart from 'extracurricular activities' such as chapel service, education, and group therapy.  Bishop Gary Gordon, during his time as Ordinary of Whitehorse, was the Canadian episcopal conference's voice on behalf of prisoners during Harper's tenure, and often spoke out about the effects of prison life in perpetuating criminal behaviour.  As such, the purpose of imprisonment could sometimes self-defeating.

'Sequestering' violent criminals, as well as 'reforming' them, seems to be the major purpose of imprisonment.  At the same time, prison life is made up of a bulk of rules; breaking them is met with further discipline and following them is occasionally met with a small reward.  The very existence of rules and expectations raises the possibility of "reform"--however small--and, to my mind, raises yet another possibility:  The role of 'formation in virtue' in prison life.

Here I mean only the cardinal virtues.  Given the universality of the cardinal virtues (founded, as they are, on natural law), it seems to me that the application of Aquinas' moral theory might have a special application in prison life beyond the mere following of rules for authority's and reward's sake.  If the hope is that, somehow, inmates improve their character,   In Aquinas' treatise on the habits (S.th., 2a 2ae, qq. 49-54), much discussion is given over to the 'malleability' of human character--or, as Maxime Allard OP calls it, 'plasticity.'  The very premise of prison rules is founded on the plasticity of human character; why not push the expectation further by providing a more authentic formation in character by applying Aquinas' virtue-ethic to the 'curriculum' of prison life?

Though 'secularism' is philosophically untenable, it still makes for a workable partnership with the Church given the natural law.  (Yes, there are secularists aplenty who reject the natural law theory, until someone inflicts misfortune upon them that is, nonetheless, not illegal.)  It seems to me that prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude are 'common denominator' sufficiently low enough to be admitted in a government space such as prisons.

More to the point, for all the talk of how a given inmate may have had an unfortunate set of circumstances which, in turn, gave rise to criminal behaviour, what is to say that a given inmate does not have a sufficient 'plasticity' to better himself by forming newer and better habits?  Again, if inmates are expected to follow rules, then at least they can also be encouraged to put an effort in growth in virtue.  In fact, to reduce inmates' personal reform to merely following prison rules serves less to reform inmates and more to play the Girardian cycle of mimetic violence.

Given Canadian secularism's aggressive pursuit of the 'lowest common denominator,' it is unlikely that we will see 'formation in virtue' part of the official programme of incarceration.  The Church however, in addition to the chapel services she holds in prisons, could offer yet another 'extracurricular' activity in applied virtue ethics following Aquinas' theory.  This, I think, might be a decisive contribution to the Church's engagement with secularity without compromising her essential commitment to the Gospel.

Thomistic "Virtue-Ethics"--A Sounder Pastoral Approach

When I began theology 10,000 years ago at an American seminary on the west coast, our course in moral theology consisted of Richard Gula's Reason Informed by Faith:  Foundations of Catholic Morality and another text by Richard McCormick (I forget the title).  A wonderful priest-professor taught the course which, in hindsight, struck me as a semester-long exercise in the art of excuplation.

Eventually, I moved to what would be my alma mater, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.  Well into my course of studies, it was decided that my previous credits in moral theology would not be transferred but, instead, I would take another one taught by Dr John Berkman (now at the University of Toronto).

It was there that I was introduced to St Thomas Aquinas' system of "the good life" and, especially, the 'calculus' of virtue-ethics.  Rather than the 'art of excuplation,' I discovered the 'art of tending towards God,' naturally by the cardinal virtues and supernaturally by the theological virtues.  That was in 2006 or thereabouts.

Nearly ten years later, I went to The Thomistic Institute's conference for priests, "Becoming a Better Confessor," where we were introduced to the skill of applying Thomas' teachings on the virtues and vices medicinally in effort to guide penitents and spiritual directees toward their Last End.  It was astonishing to see how subordinating vices could be traced back to a capital vice and how to identify a contrary virtue in view of aiding Christian souls to grow in grace.  Sensitive questions, especially pertaining to human relationships, were addressed with much care and precision, and in such a 'scientific' manner in such a way that we came away with a newfound ability to 'diagnose' moral and spiritual ailments and to medicinally apply the workings of virtue.

The description "pastoral," I think, is overused, and more often than not to mean simply 'sensitive' or 'assuaging.'  To shepherd is to lead a flock to healthy pastures and clean water in view of both health and contentment.  That being said, I've become convinced that the knowledge and application of St Thomas Aquinas' system of 'tending toward God' by way of a virtuous life buttressed by grace is in fact the most pastoral approach one can take in overseeing the Christian's struggle against sin.  More than that, Thomas' system isn't so much one of directly struggling against sin as it is tending towards our Last End and, on the way, the encumbrances of sin begin to be dislodged and progressively fall off.  In view of this, I cannot imagine how or why the 'art of exculpation' would at all be desirable.

This semester at Dominican University College, I'll be taking the course 'Aquinas on Virtue,' personally to hone my skill as a confessor and spiritual director, but professionally to 'polish my lens' as it were in order to see more clearly the humanity of Jesus, Jesus who possessed the fullness of the virtues (cf S.th., 3a, q. 7, art. 2) on account of His Anointing.  This will bring me 'full circle' to my pastoral praxis, namely, encouraging Christians to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live virtuously and, thereby, to be more conformed to Jesus Christ as the Exemplar of the virtuous life.