An Inside Job: True Confessions Of A Prison Chaplain - Shaken Not Stirred

By John Waddell

The final eleven years of my working life I served as an Anglican Prison Chaplain in several men's prisons in Victoria, Australia. In the years since retiring I wrote this book about my experiences in that role. Beginning with how I found myself in such a challenging ministry, among the topics covered are such things as my own initial nervousness and apprehensions, the risks involved, the prison environment and prison security prison security. Then there are the prisoners themselves, what they are like and in some cases how they became to be locked up. A senior Chaplain gave me wise counsel when he encouraged me to keep in mind that “There is always a story behind the story.” And finally, the impact on me and the issues I need to confront and deal with.
It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that those who are unfortunate enough to wind up in jail do not get any favourable media coverage. In fact, quite the opposite is true. As a result, the public is not fully informed and, unsurprisingly, have little or no regard for the incarcerated. A significant reason for writing and publishing this book is to comment on that and to inform. I must admit that I had to overcome my own preconceived ideas and quickly learn that men (and women) in prison are as human as the rest of us.
On a personal note, along the way, there were many challenges I had to face, and these are also addressed.
I was diagnosed with bowel cancer which required surgery. Some ten months later there was a tumour on the base of my tongue which was treated with radical radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Four years later cancerous spots appeared on my upper left lung node. More surgery! More recently and post-retirement, another cancer appeared on my lip. Yes, I was an Aussie kid who spent many hours in the sun without protection. More radiation therapy followed. In order, I refer to these as bum, tongue, lung and, lip!!
If all that wasn’t enough, over the same period, I suffered from a major depressive disorder which was treated with conventional medication. Ultimately it became what is known as ‘treatment resistant’ and I find myself on a more radical cocktail of drugs.
Despite all that I am happy to say I enjoy a stable and healthy lifestyle. Thanks be to God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Waddell
• Release date: Dec 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463892640

John Waddell

Born in the first half of the last century (1949) now retired after eleven years as a Prison Chaplain the experiences of which are the topic of this book.My first adventure into the world of book writing.

Book preview

Dedicated to the memories of my loving parents

Ethelbert (Bert) & Gladys Waddell

For their shining example of how to steadfastly live the Christian faith

FOREWORD

John Waddell served as a prison chaplain with Anglican Criminal Justice Ministry from 2003-2014, and though I was not the ACJM Senior Chaplain who appointed him, I was certainly thankful on many occasions to my predecessor Jonathan Chambers for having done so! I have spent many hours inside different prisons with John over the years we served together, and learnt much about chaplaincy from watching the quietly confident way in which John would come alongside the men who he served as their chaplain.

In this memoir, John reflects about the men he met in prison, that …although some have done evil things, they are not evil. They are not monsters or less than human… if they are indeed monsters, then their behaviour shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone…. These are significant thoughts, in my opinion, coming from someone who has been a prison chaplain to some of the most notorious prisoners in recent memory. I find such sentiments unsurprising; John has shared such reflections with me many times, often as we have walked together through prison yards or prepared for a worship service in prison chapels. John always had (and has!) my respect as a man who was able to hold both the seriousness of a person's offending together with the reality of God's heart: that in Jesus all are offered a new relationship with God which will then have ramifications for how we treat other people. That we are offered the chance of being part of God's new creation (2 Corinthians 5) is pure grace, and yet it is not cheap grace at all! John understood this and saw the men he served as chaplain being, like himself, both made in God's image and called by God to be everything they were created to be.

Prison chaplains pay a price for their service: emotionally, spiritually, and even physically due to the stress which accompanies their work. John is no stranger to such a price, and he has paid it willingly as he has walked his own journey becoming the man that God created him to be. When he told me that he was considering retirement, I was saddened by the thought of losing him, but have been pleased that John accepted his current role with ACJM as our Volunteer Chaplains Coordinator, in which John mentors many of our chaplains across the state, often driving for hours to meet with his colleagues and minister to them. I am relieved that his experience and wisdom has not been lost to us, and continue to enjoy his collegial presence in our shared ministry.

Rev. Robert Ferguson

Senior Chaplain: Anglican Criminal Justice Ministry

Website: www.anglicarevic.org.au/acjm

Email: [e-mail]

PREFACE

Having never attempted to write a book there are several reasons I took up the challenge to write this one. Although I was hearing voices is not a recommended defence in a criminal justice trial, it was one of the reasons I embarked on such a venture. Over the years it was regularly suggested to me that I should write a book about my experiences as a Prison Chaplain, that I would Have great stories to tell. While I was still active in the prison system I did not give it much thought, but a year or so after retirement I decided to have a crack. An Inside Job is the result of the fruits of my labour.

There were other reasons I had for putting pen to paper, or more accurately putting fingers to the keyboard.

The most significant in my mind is not so much how God chose me although that was very significant, but how used me in this challenging ministry to the incarcerated but why He choose me.

Me! John Waddell? I don’t wish to appear falsely modest but there is nothing special about me, I am a fairly normal guy, just your average Aussie bloke.

I was raised in a loving Christian family which gave me an excellent foundation to build my faith on.

I was a High School dropout leaving halfway through repeating year 10 at and age 15 years old I joined the workforce in full-time employment.

At some point, I decided that girls were better than God and ditched my faith for those pursuits. I married, and during that time my two children were born, my faith was renewed, and we became active in the local Anglican Church. The marriage failed, and after 12 years we separated.

My working life was secular, decidedly unspectacular and I was twice the victim of redundancy.

In the late eighties I felt the call to Ordination, but before presenting myself as a potential candidate and being aware much more study would be before me, I began Theological studies as a private student. My dismal school record was very much in the forefront of my mind, and I knew there were going to be significant challenges ahead. I have often said that John Waddell and academia are an oxymoron!

When the time was right, I put myself forward as a Candidate, jumped through all the hoops and attended a Selection Conference. Eventually, the mail arrived from the then Archbishop of Melbourne advising me that I was not accepted.As much as it hurt at the time, I remain convinced to this day that the Church did me, and them, a favour.

So, as you see, and to borrow from Winston Churchill, I have much to be modest about!

Being rejected for Ordination meant that with delighted enthusiasm I discontinued my studies. Little did I know that God wasn’t done with me yet and I was prompted take up the studies once more some years later. And miracle of miracles was able to graduate with a Diploma of Christian Ministry and a Certificate of Pastoral Counselling.

The whole point of what has preceded is to emphasise how God calls and uses the most ordinary, and often surprising people. I am not a Theological giant, nor could I be called a spiritual guru or even a great biblical scholar. I’m just me.

He gave me a heart and desire to serve Him, I responded to His invitation and was on the path to prison!

So, I fervently hope and pray that those of you who may have doubts about how God may choose you, that He may even want to use you, those who perhaps do not feel adequate or worthy enough or good enough, will be encouraged by this book and be prepared to be surprised at where God may lead you. And be blessed beyond measure.

Additionally, I hope to enlighten and inform. The question that I believe that must be asked is one about where the public, by and large, obtains information about prisons and prisoners. Most obviously it is from printed media, television news reports or television shows and movies. Regrettably, this type of coverage does not give the full picture. The focus tends to lean towards the sensational, or salacious