Welcome to my website. My name is Donald Stoesz. I worked for thirty years as a prison chaplain within Correctional Service Canada. I am an ordained minister with Mennonite Church Alberta. Please contact me if you have any questions: dstoesz@telusplanet.net.
I am offering three, seven week courses that people may be interested in taking. The first one has to do with co-dependency, the second one with relationships, and the third one with grief recovery. Descriptions of each course can be found on the next three pages of the website.
I also provide training to prison chaplains. I published a Prison Chaplaincy Manual in 2020 and developed an on-line Introduction to Chaplaincy course (SC613) that I have taught at Ambrose University since 2019. This course is part of a program in which students can acquire a Certificate in Spiritual Care. I am in the process of developing a three month internship program (PT712/721) that students can complete in a prison setting.
My writing started thirteen years ago (2010), when I published one hundred and twenty, one-page vignettes of my pastoral encounters with inmates. That book is called Glimpses of Grace.
I am in the middle of writing a history of the last fifty years of prison chaplaincy. Entitled, Up From the Grassroots, the book reflects on the impact that Pierre and Judy Allard have had with regard to the Correctional Service, chaplaincy, community reintegration, COSAs, restorative justice, and international prison ministry.
I am writing another book: Jigsaw Puzzle of Human Behaviour: Correcting Imbalances through Psychology and Theology. The preface can be found on the ninth page of this website, with a pdf download available for those who are interested.
Other resources include a review of Hank Dixon's new book, A Lifer's Journey, and biographies of other chaplains entitled In the Company of Saints.
More information about my career can be found in my Chaplaincy Journey and Curriculum Vitae.
