At the 1986 Council Meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, John Caldwell, the Executive Director of Kairos, met with Bishop Charles Vache to discuss the possibility of starting a Kairos ministry in Virginia. To start Kairos, at least three (3) denominations that have 3-day spiritual programs such as Cursillo or Emmaus had to be represented and their judicatorial leader must approve.
An organizational meeting of an ad hoc committee made up of representative of various denominations was held and a leader was chosen as chair of the committee and charged with the task of 1) securing ecumenical agreements between the various bishops and Kairos; 2) finding a suitable prison with a willing warden and chaplain; 3) securing an institutional agreement between the institution and Kairos; 4) seeing that the chaplain attends a 3-day weekend; and serving as rector of the initial Kairos Weekend.
Ed Fraher was chosen to proceed with the above tasks. Bishops from the three Episcopal dioceses, the Bishop of the Virginia Methodist Conference, and the Bishop of the Richmond Catholic Diocese all signed the required agreement. The National Capital Emmaus was representated by a lay person, Kairos National permitted the Executive Director of Emmaus to sign for them.
Buckingham Correctional Center was chosen as the site because of an exemplary warden. John Caldwell, Bill Jones and Ed Fraher had toured the prison and were impressed with the possibility of starting the first Kairos there. Chaplain John Austin was excited about kairos and agreed to make an Emmaus Walk. Everything was falling into place until the warden allegedly struck an inmate and was replaced. It was with a lot of trepidation and prayer that the leaders truged again to Buckingham. The new warden agreed to honor the agreement signed by his predecessor. Not long later this warden was replaced by Warden Smith and he turned out to be very supportive, He helped select the candidates for the first weekend and was heard to comment during the weekend that he was surprised that some of the residents could stand to be in the same room.
The first team of 60 men and women was formed with a great deal of help from George Wakefield. His loving arm-twisting turned no's and maybe's to yeses.
Another blessing was Duane Weeks, a newcomer to Virginia, he had served on several Kairos teams in Texas and agreed to be coordinator. Teaming took place at the Fredericksburg United Methodist Church with an overnight at the Methodist Assembly Center in Blackstone.
On March 30, 1990, with a lot of prayers and love, some anxiety and not a little fear, a convoy of eight vehicles left the 4-H Educational Center at Holiday Lake, near Appomattox and embarked on the first Kaiors weekend in Virginia. It was a super weekend of loving and hugging and none of the team or residents have been the same since.
CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF PRISONS IN VIRGINIA WITH THE KAIROS PROGRAM
