The IPCA V Worldwide Congress 2005 was held at NAV Canada (the Canadian Airlines Navigational Training Facility) in Cornwall, Ontario, a huge and beautiful facility situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The theme of the conference was “No Estamos Solos” (not alone). 326 prison chaplains from 70 countries attended the conference. The number would have been much greater but for the fact that about a 100 chaplains were unable to obtain Travel Visas to attend the conference. All participants hailed the conference a great success.

Opening Ceremony:
Steve Bell’s Music Group entertained participants as they gathered in the large auditorium. The opening session began with Mr. Chin Yeung singing “O Canada” as images of Canada were projected on two huge projector screens in the Auditorium. The 2000-2005 Worldwide Steering Committee Members then each said a brief work of welcome in the language of their choice. Headsets were provided for language translations in the five official languages of the Conference, English, Spanish, German, French and Russian.

Following a brief introduction by Rev. Dr. Pierre Allard (IPCA President), a Power Point Presentation projected onto two huge screens in the auditorium welcomed each individual participant of the conference as the map of all participating countries and the names of the participants from each particular country were projected on the large screens. Cheers and applaud welcomed each participant as they stood up when each country and names of participants from each country appeared on the screens. Following prayers and songs of praise, and the beautiful theme song specially written for the occasion, titled ‘No Estamos solos’ was sung by the composer of the song, Jan, who was part of the Steve Bell Music Group, Pierre Allard formally declared IPCA V Conference opened.

Opening address:
Sister Helen Prejean known internationally for her tireless work against the death penalty gave the opening address on the theme ‘No Estamos solos’ (not alone). Helen is internationally renowned for her book “Dead Man Walking” which became a best seller, and spawned the Oscar-winning movie of the same name. Helen spoke of her experience of working with prisoners on Death Row in the Louisiana Angola Prison. Helen accompanied several Death Row prisoners to their execution. In doing so, she began to suspect that some of those executed were not guilty. This inspired her to write a second book “The Death of Innocence”. Helen is presently writing another book about her work and experiences with the poor and marginalised people in Latin America, to be published by Orbis Press. Helen gave an excellent presentation on her ministry with prisoners on Death Row and her fight against the death penalty, and working among the poor and marginalised. She received a standing ovation for her presentation from participants.

The evening concluded with five prison chaplains offering a prayer in each of the five official languages of the conference.

Other Keynote Speakers:
Over the following five days at which each day began with a morning devotion of prayers and songs of praise by Steve Bell’s Music Group, various presentations were given on the conference theme “No Estamos Solos” (not alone).

Saturday:
Dr. José Luis Pérez Guadalupe spoke on the theme “We are not alone in suffering”. José Luis represented the Latin America Region of IPCA on the Worldwide Steering Committee for the past five years (2000-2005). José Luis first proposed the theme for the IPCA V Conference “No Estamos Solos” and gave an inspirational presentational and introduction to the conference theme. José Luis is a particularly gifted person, with numerous major degrees in the areas of education and science (to mention just a few), he has degrees in theology, education, criminology, anthropology, science, sociology etc. He has had several books published (in Spanish), to mention just two, “The Social Construction of the Reality of Prison”, and “Ecumenism, Sects and New Religious Movements”. José Luis gave a brilliantly lucid and insightful presentation on the theme “We are not alone in suffering”. He presented Jesus as a model and example for us all of not being alone in suffering ‘No Estamos solos’. He quoted many passages from scripture giving examples of Jesus as a human person experiencing the human feeling and emotion of ‘being alone’, but distinguishing the difference between ‘loneliness’ (which Jesus experienced) and also His ‘need to be alone’ at times with God the Father. He ‘equated’ Jesus’ words in scripture “you will all run away and leave me all alone, yet I am not alone, the Father is with me”, and His cry from the cross “my God, my God why have you abandoned me”. José Luis is from Peru, and presented his talk in Spanish. His presentation was simultaneously translated in the official conferences languages through the headsets.

Sunday:
Rev. Dr. Hamilton Mvume Dandala spoke on the theme “We are not alone in prayer”. Bishop Hamilton is General Secretary of the Nairobi based All African Conference of Churches (AACC). AACC is a fellowship of 169 national churches in 39 African countries with a congregational membership of 120 million Christians in Africa. Bishop Hamilton has received many awards such as the Order of the Baobab by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the Distinguished Humanitarian Services Award, the Golden Dove Peace Award, etc. Bishop Hamilton has worked tirelessly to facilitating peace between the warring parties in the Johannesburg hostels and Kathoros on the east lands. He is passionate in his commitment to help South Africa find creative ways for its people to develop and respond to the needs of their society with emphasis on the place of economic development in the Church’s scheme for social development. Bishop Hamilton, in his highly animated fashion, gave a very moving and inspiring talk on the theme “We are not alone in prayer”.

Monday:
Professor Christina Landman spoke on the theme “We are not alone in service”. Christine is Professor in the Research Institute for Theology and Religion at the University of South Africa, the first South African born woman to become professor of theology in South Africa. Christine has worked as a voluntary counsellor in a hospital in a disadvantaged area, and works as an independent Prison Visitor at the Pretoria Female Correctional Centre on behalf of the inspecting Judge of Prisons. Christine gave very blunt and frank descriptive account of the particular issue and situations that effect women in prison, and spoke about the inhumane conditions and situations women have to endure in many prisons. Christine gave an excellent presentation that received a standing ovation from participants.

Tuesday:
Dr. Tom O’Connor spoke on the theme “We are not alone in joy”. Tom is the administrator of Religious Services for the Oregon Department of Corrections. He qualified as an attorney in his country of origin (Ireland), and was a Carmelite friar for nine years, serving in Ireland, France, and Washington, DC. Tom has worked in the United States on religious treatment, and on the evaluation issues in social services and criminal justice. Tom has published several articles on the integration of religion and effective correctional programmes. Tom’s book on “Religion, the Community, and the rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders” was published in 2003. Tom used the parable of The Prodigal Son to give a graphical presentation of the theme “We are not alone in joy”. Once again, it was a very powerful, moving and inspiring presentation on the theme “No Estamos Solos”.