Cardinal
to inmates:
‘It is all about hope’
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
DOYLESTOWN — The Bucks County Correctional Facility is located in
what is considered one of the most desirable communities in the five counties
of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Still, when Cardinal Justin Rigali
made a pastoral visit there on Dec. 23, he was ministering to an often
forgotten population — and one that would probably prefer to be
somewhere else.
The facility at 1730 S. Easton Road is a temporary home to almost 700
male and female inmates. During his third Christmas pastoral visit to
a correctional facility in the region, the Cardinal celebrated Mass for
a congregation consisting of inmates, prison personnel and volunteer mentors.
During his homily, Cardinal Rigali stressed the message of Christmas.
“It is all about hope,” he said, explaining that such hope
comes from God’s love. After the sins of our first parents, “God
did not abandon them. He promised to send a Redeemer,” the Cardinal
said; Jesus, that Redeemer, was born “to bring hope into the world.”
We must “open our hearts to the challenge of Jesus Christ to love
God and to love one another,” the Cardinal added. “If we make
an effort, He is there to sustain us and help us.”
After the liturgy, Cardinal Rigali greeted each inmate personally as the
prisoners filed out.
“It’s almost 40 years since I saw a cardinal at my confirmation,”
marveled Joseph, one of the prisoners. “I feel so blessed. This
was a wonderful, privileged thing.”
Paul, another inmate, agreed: “It was a beautiful thing —
one in a million — to be here to receive Communion from him and
to shake his hand. It was a blessing to be here.”
The Mass was concelebrated by Msgr. John J. McIntyre, the Cardinal’s
secretary; Father Charles H. Hagan, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Parish in Doylestown, and Father Gerard J. Hoffman, parochial vicar at
Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
The parish provides Catholic ministry to the prison through weekly Masses
and Bible study groups. There is also a flourishing mentoring program,
with about 20 volunteers, most of whom are members of Our Lady of Mount
Carmel.
“They mentor a prisoner after he or she has been released. They
help with their readjustment to society,” Father Hagan said. “They
help them find a job or housing, or to obtain a driver’s license,
or hook them up with health care facilities.”
For prison ministry volunteer Marie Grabowksi, service is in the form
of playing the guitar at the weekly Masses. “It’s a blessed
ministry,” she said. “The Lord called me to this about 17
years ago. It’s rewarding. You can’t see it now — but,
hopefully, I will see it some day, and they will too.”
Mentoring by religious groups is critical for the institution as well
as being “an excellent connection between the community and the
inmates and staff,” said Harris Gubernick, Bucks County corrections
director. “It is the biggest connection for the reentry of the inmates
with the community in which they are going to reside. This accepts them
back into it.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo parish and a freelance writer.