Forty Weeks: Letters from Prison is a tremendous spiritual tool to be used both by the incarcerated and those who offer them pastoral and spiritual guidance. It can also be a great resource for the families of those who are incarcerated. In August of 2016, Fr. Watson, president of Sacred Story Institute and author of the original Forty Weeks: An Ignatian Path to Christ with Sacred Story Prayer, received a letter from a federal inmate seeking spiritual advice. His name is Richard Rafael Roman or just simply, Ritchie. He had been given a copy of Forty Weeks by a Catholic deacon friend of his: Patrick Logsdon. Their relationship went back to 1987 when Ritchie lived in Anthony House, a Catholic transitional home for addicts and former felons seeking a way back into society. The house was run by Deacon Pat and sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY.Ritchie, in his early fifties when he first contacted Fr. Watson, was starting year nineteen of a twenty-five-year sentence for armed bank robbery. He was sent to prison in 1997. Ritchie and Fr. Watson corresponded for a month or so before it was suggested Ritchie go through the Forty Weeks program and write questions for each week of the program. Fr. Watson agreed he would send him advice for each week. The covenant was that Ritchie give his permission for Fr. Watson to publish the correspondence in a special version of the Ignatian formation program, Forty Weeks, to be called Letters from Prison.Fr. Watson was convinced that working together he and Ritchie could help many incarcareted find the Lord of healing, hope, and peace through a special edition of Forty Weeks. If the Forty Weeks spiritual program was helping Ritchie so much, how many more could be helped with the addition of his personal story and reflections, along with some of Fr. Watson's spiritual advice? Ritchie readily agreed. It is the prayer of both Fr. Watson and Ritchie that many of the incarcerated who believe they have no value or future can find in the healing light of Christ through the Forty Weeks Letters from Prison, a new hope to believe that they have a Sacred Story that Christ can make possible even in prison.
NOTE: Older editions of some of SSI books describe free resources on our website. When we started our second decade, we moved to a subscription service for all additional resources. We hope you will check them out on our website: https://sacredstory.net/membership-levels/
Fr. William Watson, S.J., D. Min., has spent over thirty years developing Ignatian programs and retreats used by Georgetown University, Seattle University, Santa Clara University, Gonzaga University and Loyola College in Baltimore. He has collaborated extensively with Fr. Robert Spitzer in the last fifteen years on Ignatian retreats for corporate CEO's. In the spring of 2011 he launched a non-profit institute to bring Ignatian Spirituality to Catholics and Christians of all ages and walks of life. The Sacred Story Institute is promoting third millennium evangelization for the Society of Jesus and the Church by using the time-tested Examination of Conscience of St. Ignatius.Fr. Watson has served as: Director of Retreat Programs at Georgetown University; Vice President for Mission at Gonzaga University; and Provincial Assistant for International Ministries for the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus. He received his Doctor of Ministry degree in 2009 from The Catholic University of America (Washington D.C.). He also holds Masters degrees in Divinity and Pastoral Studies, respectively (1986; Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge Massachusetts).
