Sacred Citizenship

Odyssey Going Behind Bars

Can you teach Socrates in prison? Should you? The highly successful UW-Odyssey Project took an unexpected turn last year when Jerry Hancock and Jean Feraca dared to bring a college-level arts and humanities program into Wisconsin prisons.

Speakers

Rev. Jerry Hancock, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, entered the ministry after working for more than 30 years in the criminal justice system. In February, 2006, Jerry became the Director of the Prison Ministry Project. The Project is an outreach ministry of the United Church of Christ. Its challenge is to serve prisoners, victims and their families, engage the wider church in prison issues and to be an advocate for prison reform. He is a graduate of Colorado College, The University of Wisconsin Law School and Chicago Theological Seminary. He and his wife, the artist Linda Hancock, live in Madison. Jerry can be reached at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin, 53726 or at jhancock@firstcongmadison.org.

Jean Feraca is an award-winning journalist, writer, and public speaker whose skills as a communicator
became renowned as Wisconsin Public Radio’s premier talk show host. In 2003, she co-founded UW-Madison’s Odyssey Project as an educational experiment designed to transform the lives of adults living in poverty. Now in its 16th year, Jean teaches philosophy and civic engagement as one of Odyssey’s four core faculty, and serves on the Odyssey Board. She is the author of three books of poetry and the memoir I Hear Voices: A Memoir of Life, Death, and the Radio which was named one of the best books of 2009 by the American Library Association. Feraca is an oblate of Holy Wisdom Monastery, a fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and the author of the blog, My Life in Widening Circles: https://jeanferaca.wordpress.com

Cost

$30, includes dinner and program

The Ayer Enrichment Fund (AEF) has made $25 scholarships available for those who would like to attend, but for whom the $30 fee is not affordable. The AEF was established to promote Benedictine values through programs that support reflection, dialogue and action.  If you are requesting scholarship support, download the registration form and return it to the monastery with your $5. We are unable to give scholarships through online registration.

Registration

Registration closed.
There is a 50% refund until the March 21, 2019 registration deadline, no refund after the deadline.

Come to our next Sacred Citizenship event Becoming a Better Ally to the African American Community led by Rev. Joan Crawford on May 2, 2019. Read more