Retired couple get spiritual books shipped to prisoners

Published: 2003-10-08

CHICAGO (CNS) -- When Jim Carney retired, he made two promises -- one to his wife, Lucy, who wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise, and the other to Jesus Christ. But it wasn't until Carney fulfilled the first that the second was put into action. On the icy Alaskan waters, Carney sat on the cruise ship's deck delving into a spiritual book when Father George Yany, chaplain at the Rhode Island state prison, casually approached him and asked what he was reading. "We started talking, and Lucy and I got to know Father George very well," he said. So well that the couple sent the prison chaplain 100 spiritual books when they returned home. "The inmates gobbled up the books," said Carney, "and quickly asked for more." That was 10 years ago. Today, the Carneys and six other parishioners from SS. Faith, Hope and Charity Parish in Winnetka have organized a prison ministry called Victory 2000, and have sent more than 1.5 million books to 844 correctional institutions nationwide.

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