Welcoming Catherine!
We are delighted to announce that Catherine De Souza will be joining us from Monday 2nd September as our new CEO.
Our Chair of the Board, Peter Harlock, writes:
I am excited about this next season for Prison Fellowship, just as I am grateful for the past season. It will be both different and the same.
It will be the same because we have a faithful God who does not change as we do. He is consistent in His love for all people, whatever their background and upbringing and whatever they may have done. So, our own task at PF remains the same: to reflect God’s love in action and word into the lives of people in prison and their families to His glory and for their restoration.
It will be different because it will be a new season with new opportunities and challenges in the prison environment and a new CEO prepared by God in terms of experience and gifting to lead us. In addition to a focus on the obvious successes and achievements, we could also have asked the usual interview question about examples of failures and setbacks. That is because it is through our setbacks and failures – as well as our successes – that godly and good leaders learn. As we go forward into this new season, we must be prepared to experiment and innovate, seeking ways of having ever greater impact.
After extensive interviewing and prayerful discussion, the Board Search Committee was unanimous in recommending Catherine for appointment. That is because Catherine communicated to us a thoughtful and passionate ambition about the future of PF’s minstry and has the mix of tools and experience for this season. She is no newcomer to prison work with Alpha and other such ministry experience. The CEO of PF needs to be a spiritual leader and she has led churches, too. She is also a strong communicator.
Catherine expresses her own excitement about coming to PF. She shares, ‘ I am thrilled to be joining PF and am looking forward to working with the Board, Support Team, Volunteers, and Supporters, as together we show Christ’s love to people in prison and their families. It’s a privilege to take on the leadership of such an impactful ministry as we respond to the growing need across the prison system, demonstrating God’s heart for marginalised people and playing our part in seeing lives and communities transformed.’
In Isaiah 43, we read, ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’
One thing I have realised during my involvement with PF Volunteers in prison -many of whom have been serving many years – is that God is doing the same thing but in new and different and exciting ways! May we perceive it and embrace it in this next season.
Peter Harlock is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Prison Fellowship England and Wales.
Read the press release regarding Catherine’s appointment here.
