Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics Reporter

Even after 27 years working with prisoners to help them find peace through meditation, and countless interviews and speaking engagements to explain the importance of her work, Toronto-based Catholic nun Elaine MacInnes says it's the letters from the inmates themselves that tell the story best.

And tonight, renowned British actor Jeremy Irons will read some of those letters to an audience at the Jane Mallett Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts as part of his ongoing effort to raise money and awareness for MacInnes' program.

"The line between being in jail and not being in jail is very thin – and very easy to fall across," Irons says in an interview.

MacInnes's work, which has taken her into dozens of Canadian jails, is based on a very successful program she ran for years in Britain, where she visited some of that country's most notorious jails.

"When people ask me about hardened prisoners, I say I haven't met one yet," MacInnes, a Zen roshi, or master, who has been teaching meditation and yoga to prisoners since 1980.

Tonight's show will be based on performances Irons has held in British prisons raising money for MacInnes's work. Some shows are just for the prisoners, with others for outsiders brought into the prison – often for the first time – to be in the audience. But in each one, Irons, who has worked with MacInnes and her Freeing the Human Spirit charity for several years, selects a series of letters and poems to read from prisoners who have taken part in MacInnes's unique program of meditation and reflection.

"I find them very powerful," Irons says.

For MacInnes, the letters show the transformative powers of meditation. The prisoners become acutely aware of why they were sent to prison, and of the impact their actions have had on others. Along the way, they shed any denial that they have hurt others.

"That wonderful morning when they wake up, look in the mirror and say, `I did it' makes all the difference," she says. "You start looking at other people differently, and that word `other' doesn't sound so good."

As well, the participants become better prisoners and less likely to fall back into a life of crime upon release, Irons says.

Also appearing tonight will be folk singer Kate McGarrigle, who Irons invited to attend because he has long been a fan of her music.

Irons comes to his shows armed with letters, poems and other readings, and adjusts the performance to match the mood of each audience, making for a more intimate encounter.

The 83-year-old MacInnes says her priority now is to train others as meditation teachers so that her program can continue after she is gone. The money from tonight's show will help make that possible, she says.

 

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