Latest News #297
January 13, 2005

The following news concerns France.

Meeting prisoners’ needs…
in Paris bookshops

One of the special collection boxes placed in Christian bookshops in the Greater Paris region by the French Bible Society and local prison chaplains in December 2004 and January 2005. Customers were invited to donate EUR5.00 to fund the cost of a Bible for a prisoner. Photo: French Bible Society (FRA05DJ-1.JPG)

PARIS, France — Customers at Christian bookshops in the Greater Paris region are being asked to give a donation in addition to the cost of their purchases to support a project being run by the French Bible Society and local prison chaplains. By placing just EUR5.00 (US$6.62) in a special collection box, customers can fund the purchase of a Bible for a prisoner who has expressed interest in receiving one.

The Bible in Prison appeal, launched in December and continuing to run throughout January, is a direct response to the difficulties both Roman Catholic and Protestant chaplains regularly encounter in securing sufficient supplies of Bibles for prisoners. To their frustration, chaplains are often unable to give Bibles to prisoners who are actively seeking a source of comfort in their present plight and guidance for the future.

The origins of the current project can be traced back to 2003, when the Year of the Bible (see World Report 384/5) substantially raised the profile of the Bible in France and led to the initiative's organisers, which included the Bible Society, receiving many requests to promote it more actively among population groups such as prisoners and schoolchildren. Even while the Year of the Bible was still running, a Catholic bookshop collected donations from its customers which funded the purchase of more than 150 Bibles for prisoners at Fleury-Mérogis detention centre in southern Paris, the largest institution of its kind in Europe.

Now, coinciding with National Prisons Day (December 6), New Year celebrations and January's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Bible Society and its partner chaplains are making a collection in 15 bookshops to fund the purchase of Bibles which will be distributed by chaplains in around 10 prisons. Each donation will pay for a specially produced Parole de Vie ('Word of Life') Bible using the easily accessible français fondamental translation, which has already proved popular with prisoners. This softback edition is available with or without Deuterocanon. Large plastic collection boxes in an eye-catching design, along with explanatory posters, are ensuring maximum publicity for the appeal.