Professional Chaplain Service in Czech Prison

This thesis is about prison chaplains in the Czech Republic. It focuses on the connection of their work with the civil society, motivation for their work, methods they use and difficulties they face. In additional it also deals with the role of churchmanship. The theoretical part of this work describes how the activity of prison chaplains is embedded in the legislature of the Czech Republic and their connection to the civil society through the non-governmental organization Vězeňská duchovenská péče (Prison spiritual ministry). In this part motivation from the psychological point of view is also described. From this part the specific analysis and observation of the motivation for social and pastoral activities, over confessional and ecumenical characteristic of the NGO Vězeňská duchovenská péče derives. The practical part of the thesis describes the research carried out with 17 prison chaplains from 11 prisons and its results. The motivation of prison chaplains relates to their goals. The major finding is that there is their intent to offer help and support to people that find themselves in very difficult situations: human help (closeness, giving an ear and encouragement), and spiritual help (sacraments and prayers). To the most important and frequently used methods being individual talks with prisoners. The..