Finding help in building a life after prison
By
CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
CS&T Staff Writer
“It’s always a good feeling, when you’re getting ready
to walk out of those front doors. But that feeling wears off as soon as
you walk out. It’s like, ‘Wow, I’m free. But now what?’”
So said Michael, 37, who was released from a Philadelphia prison last
October.
To his relief, his question has been positively answered by three men
from St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish in Yardley, who volunteered to mentor
him through a program sponsored by the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s
Prison Ministry Program.
Michael marvels at what his mentors have done for him: “If it wasn’t
for them being in my corner the way that they were … there is a
chance I may have gone back to prison.”
Realizing he had nothing to lose, but much to gain, Michael applied to
the mentoring program last year, while serving a six-month sentence. He
had been incarcerated before, and realized he needed someone positive
on the outside to help him turn his life around.
“I took a chance, and submitted an application,” he said.
When Vincentian Father Gregory P. Cozzubbo, the chaplain of the Prison
Ministry Program, informed him he had been accepted into the program,
Michael said he felt his efforts at self-improvement were validated.
One of his mentors from St. Ignatius of Antioch is 58-year-old Mike Cibenko,
a retired police lieutenant.
Mentoring those who have been imprisoned is “the opposite of what
I used to do,” Cibenko said. “I worked at the other end.”
But, Cibenko added, he understood that his faith calls him to do more
than “just … catch all the bad guys and put them away …
As Catholics, we’re called by Christ to … visit those in prison.”
So Cibenko decided, in his retirement, “Let’s see what I can
do at this end.”
From the get-go, “Michael understood what he needed to do”
to reintegrate into society after prison, Cibenko added.
Michael’s three mentors met with him while he was still imprisoned,
which is a requirement of the mentoring program. A “contract”
helped set the ground rules under which the mentors and the former prisoner
would meet.
Cibenko said he and his colleagues assured Michael they were there to
help him — although they might have to tell him things he wouldn’t
want to hear.
Michael said he has been receptive to hearing things about himself that
would be unpleasant: “A real friend is going to tell you how it
is. It’s up to you whether you can accept the constructive criticism
or not.”
He added, “When I call them, they’re there. They’ll
give it to you the way it is. After the hurt heals, they’re still
there to make sure you’re on your feet. They’ve really been
a big help.”
In order for the mentoring program to work, the former inmates have to
take it seriously, Michael said. “You don’t just call [the
mentors] for nonsense.”
Before his mentors visited him while he was still behind bars, he was
somewhat nervous — and skeptical, Michael said.
“At first, I was thinking, these guys are not really going to take
time out of what they’re doing just to come up here and see me.
When they came and we talked, it was like a breath of fresh air,”
he said.
Unfortunately, many former prisoners return to the very environment that
had served as a catalyst for their crimes in the first place, Cibenko
said.
In addition, former inmates frequently find themselves in a sort of “Catch-22”
situation: because they have a criminal record, it can be extremely difficult
to find legitimate work.
“We have a society that says, ‘Go to jail, do the time,’”
but still punishes prisoners once they are back in the world, Cibenko
said. Prisoners “are still doing time. That’s what we need
to address,” he said. “How do we help them get back on track
— to come back into the mainstream of society and be accepted?
“We put the label — ‘felon, ex-con’ — on
them. We have to allow them to take that label off — or to help
them get that label off,” he said.
“Being a cop … I understood what his problems were —
where [Michael] was coming from — and I was able to discern whether
he was telling the truth or not,” Cibenko added. “I’m
very suspicious in my nature.”
Cibenko hopes he and his fellow mentors have taught Michael “how
to be a Christian man.”
“I said, ‘If you want an example for a father and a family,
you have to look at the Holy Family — St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother
and Jesus,’” Cibenko said. “Pray on that, and work it
from there.”
The Archdiocese began the prison mentoring program in 2003 as a way to
address the rapid recidivism rate for inmates.
“We noticed how many people were returning to jail, and felt we
really needed to do something in response to that,” said Laura Ford,
the program’s coordinator.
She also credits Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. According to Ford, he emerged
from a pastoral visit to prison inmates he had made as Archbishop of the
Archdiocese, and asked Father Cozzubbo: “‘What are we doing
for them when they get out?’”
Implementation of the program coincided with the release of a document
by the U.S. Bishops in 2000, titled, “Responsibility, Rehabilitation
and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice.”
Mentoring former prisoners is a high priority for the Church, Ford said,
“because of our belief in forgiveness … reconciliation and
mercy. It stems from the corporal works of mercy. Everyone is welcomed
back — everyone is savable.”
More mentors are needed, according to Father Cozzubbo and Ford.
[Individuals in the program always mentor in groups of three. Training
sessions will be held June 3 and June 17 at the office of the Prison Ministry
Program in Northeast Philadelphia. See bottom of story for contact information
to apply to be a mentor. Mentors must be at least 21 years old.]
“Scriptures tell us that we need to visit those who are imprisoned,”
Father Cozzubbo said. “One of the ways we felt we could best respond
to that was by setting up a method of accompaniment for them.
“The mentor teams have proven to be just that,” he said. “They’re
not trying to ‘fix’ things for them, they’re simply
there as a support, and as a way of accompanying them as they make their
transition and reintegration back into society, our neighborhoods, their
families.”
Ed Borger, 55, is another of Michael’s mentors from Ignatius of
Antioch Parish.
Borger said signing up as a mentor was the best way he could respond to
the Scripture mandate to reach out to the imprisoned.
“The program is very well-run,” he said. “They really
help you, in terms of providing training.”
For Borger, the bottom line is to help the former prisoners return to
society one day at time: “The real hope is just to help Mike get
his feet on the ground. The recidivism problem is such a big deal. The
odds are so stacked against so many of these folks.
“It’s easy for us to sit back and think about goals and objectives,
but if you don’t know where you’re sleeping tonight, it’s
hard to look beyond that,” Borger said.
The mentors share their own life experiences and insights with Michael.
“We talk a lot about making choices,” Borger said.
Michael’s new friends also strive to keep him thinking positively
about his potential, Borger added. “He’s a really good guy.
I hope he really does believe that he has the ability to make it on his
own, get settled and have a better life than he’s experienced up
until this point in time.
“He’s had his ups and downs, but so far he’s going down
a good path,” Borger said.
The best gift a mentor has is the ability to listen and to care, Father
Cozzubbo said.
“Any one of us can make a poor choice that puts us in a very difficult
situation. Maybe some of us had a better [opportunity of] learning how
to make [positive] choices.”
Father Cozzubbo added that Catholics should also be careful to refrain
from judging others: “We forget about looking at the plank in our
own eye when someone else has that speck in their eye.”
Forgiveness plays a big role in prison ministry. Besides encouraging people
to repent, Jesus also urged them to move forward.
“[In] Jesus’ public ministry, there was such a great focus
on forgiveness,” Father Cozzubbo said.
He said inmates have a difficult time forgiving themselves, but Catholic
prisoners who receive the sacrament of reconciliation recognize the graces
that come when they are able to do so.
“As they come to really open their hearts — to acknowledge
what they’ve done — and then hear through the ministry of
the Church that their sins are forgiven, it makes a tremendous difference
for them,” he said.
Michael said sometimes he feels Christ’s presence, but other times
he does not. Still, he has come to realize, “that’s when His
presence is there the most.”
“Sometimes, the devil jumps on my back and starts to beat on me,
and tries to tell me that I’m a failure,” Michael said, “[that]
I’ve failed as a father, a husband, a member of society, [that]
I’ve let everybody down, including myself.
“But while [the devil] is saying all that, there’s [another]
voice saying [the devil is] a liar,” he added. “And I realize,
God allows you to go through certain things, to test you, to see where
you’re faith is at.
“And once He brings you through, you become stronger and better,”
Michael said.
Michael also has praise for the archdiocesan prison ministry program —
and particularly for Father Cozzubbo and Ford, for their work day-in and
day-out on behalf of prisoners and former prisoners.
“If more of the guys in prison talk with Father Greg, they’ll
find that he’s there [for them],” Michael said. “He’s
trying to get everybody in there a place back in society — if they
would just take the time to look into this mentoring program.”
Cibenko concluded: “These are our brothers and sisters in need.
We have to reach out to them.
“It’s not about me — it’s about helping others,”
he said. “When you help others, there’s a satisfaction that
comes with that, and a peacefulness. It’s helped me to see the face
of God more than ever before.”
To apply to be a mentor to an incarcerated individual who is about to
be released from prison, or for more information about the Philadelphia
Archdiocese’s Prison Ministry Program, call Vincentian Father Gregory
P. Cozzubbo, the prison ministry chaplain, or Laura Ford, the prison ministry
coordinator, at (215) 331-3640.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215)
587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.