13/10/2014
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, licensed the Revd Canon Michael Kavanagh as Prisons Chaplain in a service at Lambeth Palace today.
Canon Michael was formally recognised as Archdeacon to HM Prisons and Chaplain-General, a role he has been serving in since 2013.
During the service Archbishop Justin spoke of the importance of prison ministry, and how much he appreciated “the challenging and often invisible work” of prison chaplains.
The Bishop to Prisons and Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd James Langstaff, preached the homily on Matthew 25:31-40, exploring the way in which Jesus is not only the One who calls us into prisons, but the One whom we find in and through prison ministry.
As Chaplain-General to HM Prisons, Canon Michael is tasked with ensuring that multi-faith chaplaincy is delivered across all parts of the prison service.
The service was attended by a range of HM Prisons faith advisors and National Offender Management Service (NOMS) senior managers, who later met with Archbishop Justin at a roundtable meeting to discuss their work and explore the issues it raises.