“Holy Ground”: How Faith Grounds Youth at MacLaren

At MacLaren, faith can be simultaneously vibrant and deeply personal. In some ways, that makes sense: a difference in identity can become another source of division or conflict. Yet in speaking with youth from different faith backgrounds, it’s clear that spirituality grounds their experiences of the justice system. As youth are removed from their communities, faith can be a strong source of stability and hope. By practicing their faith with others, youth build skills that will support them as they return to their communities and strive to become productive crime-free adults.

Like education, vocation, and treatment, MacLaren’s religious programming helps youth conceptualize the future life they could lead and to chart productive steps to get there. 

The staff member responsible for this is Rev. Sean Page. As OYA’s only chaplain, Rev. Sean guides all nine facilities on what religious texts to provide and how to observe core religious holidays. However, Rev. Sean spends most of his worktime at MacLaren, building intentional connections with both youth and staff as he moves between living units. In between, he takes in a wide variety of materials about the different faiths, constantly seeking new knowledge he can pass along to the roughly 105 youth who are active in religious groups. He describes his role as more than just facilitating worship; it is about creating “holy ground” – a neutral territory where the usual facility politics are set aside. 

The youth echo that. One youth observed that, when in his religious group meeting, he and his peers “are in a place of the Lord,” and that leads them to avoid trouble—”not right now, not here.” A second youth shared that group is a “safe environment” where he is reminded, “My creator is looking over me.” That psychological safety helps him “stay sane” and feel “solid.”  

Rev. Sean sees exploration of faith as, “that first big step of reconciliation.” Many youth arrive ready to, “start determining for themselves what they believe.” They may have a family tradition they embrace, or reject, or just don’t understand fully, and MacLaren afford them “their first opportunity to really [take that decision into] their own hands.” The experience of one youth reflects this: when he entered detention, life slowed from “moving a million miles per hour.” He revisited the faith of his childhood and “learned new things about myself” that, with the support of his family, helped him define his beliefs alongside the other work he was doing to work through his crime. 

For those settled in their faith, religious programming at MacLaren can offer an opportunity for cross-cultural understanding. Rev. Sean prioritizes building “interfaith or intercultural empathy” so youth won’t feel “afraid or confused” about “what their neighbor is doing.” One youth interviewed for this piece embraced this opportunity, attending a variety of groups so he “can learn something new” and “be respectful” of others’ faiths.

Yet religious groups also provided positive intra-faith community as well. Group helped one youth “realiz[e] me and people have more things in common than what I thought.” In a setting where gang affiliation can define people and lead to conflict, shared religion can represent “a good thing for all of us,” to quote one youth. Religious volunteers coming into the facility “want people to do good” and remind youth that people are waiting to welcome them back to their communities once they leave. This is not coincidental: Rev. Sean has “intentionally patterned our religious services after those in the community” so that, upon release, youth “step into a familiar faith community that is ready to support their transition and keep them on a productive path.” 

These spiritual connections provide a vital foundation for youth as they prepare to return to their communities. By fostering empathy and personal accountability, religious programming helps them envision a future defined by growth rather than past mistakes. Through this work, Rev. Sean sees youth grow to see themselves and their neighbors as “more than just the gang or more than just their race, or more than just their crime.”