Key Upcoming Culture-of-Life Gatherings/Projects
 

For the Common Good,

Bill May

Chairman, Catholics for the Common Good   

"Regaining the Offense on Marriage II" Practical tools Workshop
Saturday, August 22, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
J Serra Catholic High School
26351 Junipero Serra Road
San Juan Capistrano

 

Web and e-mail-based Resources

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is an assembly of the hierarchy of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands who jointly exercise certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States

On August 12, 2009, the USCCB launched a new web site to help Catholics better understand the Catholic position on Health Care Reform

























http://usccb.org/healthcare/

"Genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all is a moral imperative and a vital national obligation"

Bishop William F. Murphy,

New Local/Regional Events and Gatherings 

If you are planning an event that falls within the mission of social ministry, send the particulars four to five weeks in advance to the Office for Social Ministry via e-mail, osmelink@diocese-sdiego.org.  The OSM reserves the right to publish or not to publish any proposed event information.  We hope this will assist your local efforts to re-build a culture of life.

 

Every Second Monday of the month: ChasteMasters Meeting at Our Lady of the Rosary, Giovanni Room, 7:00 p.m.  -  Please join us in prayer, a roundtable discussion, and providing feedback as chastity speakers refine their talks.

For more info please visit: www.thegorettigroup.org or call David at: 619-733-8439

Watch for OSM e-link bulletin #81 around Thursday, September 17, 2009   
 

Article/Statement for August 14, 2009

I WENT TO JAIL AND FOUND FREEDOM - Reflections of a Detention Ministry Volunteer in Training - Michael Fish, parishioner at St. Gabriel in Poway


I
Introduction

“Everything I’ve done to prepare was all worth it in those five minutes.”
This is what I said to my spiritual director on a Wednesday afternoon, after just finishing my weekly service at the downtown central jail.  And there were other times like it as well. 

My volunteer service at the jail has been punctuated by moments where I was open to the Holy Spirit and felt that God was using me as an instrument to convey his grace and love to others.  I went to jail and what I found was freedom — the uplifting freedom that comes from being an instrument of God’s love for some of the most marginalized members of society. 

II
What I Do

Every Wednesday afternoon I conduct a prayer/scripture/discussion service at the jail.  I open with music, then an opening prayer, read that week’s Gospel, invite discussion about it, then a faith sharing discussion, and end with a closing prayer and closing music.

I always had some quiet time alone before the men were brought in.  Ironically, in all the chaos and calamity of being in the jail, it was really quiet and peaceful in that room alone before the men were brought in.  So, I would get my materials ready and pray, usually by simply asking God to help me be a good servant; help me do what He wanted me to do, and to help me help the men I would be meeting with.

I got about 100 holy cards depicting Jesus on the cross, an image of God the Father behind him, and an image representing the Holy Spirit (a dove) flying above.  There were images of light, and a crown.  After the opening music and prayer, I gave each man a card and opened the service by asking, “What do you see in the card?”  This was a good ice-breaker and got everyone talking. 

One time, after all the men had talked about what they saw in the card, one of the men asked me, “What do you see?”  I told him I saw love — the love of Christ to get up on that cross for us.  After I said that you could have knocked everyone over with a feather.  I don’t think anyone in the room had thought about the crucifixion that way before.

I had a lot of fun with the music.  I soon realized that traditional church music was falling flat with the age (early to mid 20’s) of most of the men.  So I then played contemporary Christian music. 

I would read the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday, and facilitate the men discussing it. 

One of the interesting things about working at the jail is that I would almost always have a completely different group of men each week.  There is a lot of turnover.

The groups were varied and unpredictable.  Sometimes, there were spiritual discussions that were more lively and interesting than we ever had in RCIA.  One of the many surprising things I realized is that in jail, there are a lot of young men who know a lot about Scripture.  They would walk into the room with their bibles.

In the midst of all the sessions and groups, several moments stand out.  These are the moments when I especially felt that my service was in being an instrument of God’s grace.  I did not plan any of these moments.  They just happened.  They were each beautiful and uplifting.

III
“NO ONE HAS EVER DONE A SERVICE FOR THEM”

One day I presented myself to the deputy at a housing unit.  Inmates are segregated among the various housing modules according to ethnicity, crime, risk level, and as I was about to find out, sexual orientation as well.

On this particular day, the deputy told me that certain modules could not come to a service.  That left only one other module on that floor.  I asked the deputy about doing a service for that module.  He laughed.  He told me they were the “he/she’s” (transgender).  Without hesitating, I said I would do a service for them.  I didn’t even think twice about it. 

The deputy looked at me with a little smile, and said something along the lines of, “are you sure?”  “Yes, I said.”  Then he told me, “no one has ever done a service for them.”  I said, “I will.” 

I set up the room as usual and prayed: “Lord, I need your help with this.”  About eight inmates came in.  When I start a service, I go up to the door, shake the hand of each person as he comes in, and tell him my first name.  Most tell me their name in reply.  I did the same here.

But this time, the men used their female names.  “Hi, I’m Mike, I said.”   “Hello, I’m Francine,” was one of the replies.  I began to wonder what I had just gotten myself into.

I played the opening song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord”.  While the music was playing, I was praying.  I had no idea what to expect.  Within a minute, the entire room was singing, loudly!

Now, in other services, sometimes a few men, here and there, would sing the opening song.  But,  never had I been with a group where everyone was singing and enjoying it.  I smiled and thought to myself — this is going to be fun.

I can’t remember now what the Gospel reading was that day.  But somehow as we were discussing it, one of the men sitting in the front row said to me, “I am evil.  I am an evil person.”

Have you have ever had a moment where you said exactly the right words, at the right time, without even thinking about it?  In an instant, I said, “You are not evil.  God made you good.  Look at Genesis 1.  God made the plants, and God said they were good.  God made the animals, and they were good.  And God made you in his image and likeness.  And, God is good and so you are good.  Now, maybe you have done some evil things.  Maybe you have sinned.  And so, we need to talk about reconciliation and God’s love and God’s forgiveness.  But you are not evil.  You are good.”

The man began to cry.  The person next to him held his arm and said, “You see, you’re not evil.”

I had the distinct feeling and belief that this was the first time in this young man’s troubled life that someone told him he was not a piece of garbage.
For me, the incredible beauty of this moment was that I was completely filled with the Holy Spirit.  Those were not my words.  I never planned to say them.  I had never even contemplated this scene happening.  I had no speech prepared for that type of moment.  It just happened.

When I left the jail that day, I truly felt (and still do) that in this five minutes, everything I have done up until that moment was completely and totally worth it. 

IV
“I HAD A DREAM….”

About a month later, at the end of an uneventful service, one of the men came up to me and said there was an inmate who was not allowed to come to the service, but wanted to meet “one on one” with the Chaplain.  As the men filed out of the room, I asked the deputy if I could meet with the inmate; he said I could.

I had not yet been fully trained as a chaplain.  This would be my first individual visit.  I was apprehensive, but tried very much not to show it at all.  On the short walk from the multipurpose room to the module where this man was waiting for me, I prayed, “Lord, I have no idea what I am doing, please help.”

The deputy would not let me physically be in the same room as the man, so I was on the other side of the steel door.  Only the small flap in the door was open for us to talk through.  The man who wanted to see me was very young; maybe only 18.  I will never forget the look on his face — sheer terror.

I had never seen that look in the jail.  No one shows fear in that place.  But this man was scared.  I said something like, “is there something you want to talk about?”  He said that he was scared, that he had a dream.  He said that in the dream, he was in a dark room, with shadowy men standing all around him, “like the Grim Reaper” in hoods, he said.  They were trying to kill him.  Then, at the end of the dream, he saw himself levitating above the men — floating in the air.  He thought he was going to die.

I said, “and you want to know what that dream means?”  He said “yes.”  And so, without even thinking about it, I matter-of-factly said: “You are in jail.  There are a lot of bad things here.  The shadowy figures and men with hoods represent evil things.  Maybe things you have done.  When you were floating above them, you are above the evil.  The dream means that God wants to you rise above the evil in your life, to get the evil out of your life and return to God.”

I have no idea where these words came from.  Needless to say, I had not taken a course in “Catholic Dream Interpretation”.  Yet, much like my experience with the transgender inmates, the words came out, and they were the right words, at the right time.  The young man calmed down considerably.  We prayed together and he left the room in much better shape than when he came in. 

Again in this service, I felt like I was an instrument of the Holy Spirit.  It was in a setting that I felt totally ill equipped to handle, and a situation I could have fled from.  And in all that, it was one of most beautiful ministry experiences I have had.

V
THIS INMATE MINISTERED TO ME

In my year at the jail, I met with more than 100 men.  One of them I will probably never forget is the one who had a complete emotional breakdown, and told me to shut up while he was doing it.  It was a good lesson for me.  Sometimes, healing and compassion comes from just being there, and words get in the way.

Here is what happened.  This incident happened was fairly late in my first year of serving at the jail.  By then, I was feeling pretty sure of myself.  I had the other experiences related above, plus more.  I felt like I could handle just about anything that came up.

After one of the prayer services, this man asked to stay behind for an individual meeting.  During the service, he did not seem particularly upset or ill at ease.  I said I would be happy to meet with him, and the deputy gave us permission to be alone in the room.

But once everyone left, and it was him and me alone, he completely lost it.  He just started sobbing, uncontrollably.  I was totally taken off guard.  I never expected this.  I felt like I had to say something to help.  I had already forgotten one of the great things I learned in training: sometimes, the healing grace of God comes from just being with someone in their suffering, in silence.

I can’t remember exactly what I said to this man, but I went on, intermittently, for about five minutes.  Then, in no uncertain terms, he told me to basically shut up and let him “get it out.”  And immediately after he said this, I knew he was right.  I shut up and was just there with him in his suffering. 

And so, in that moment, this man was ministering to me.  And after I shut up and just sat there for about 10 minutes with him as he cried, the man composed himself and we began to talk.  I did not have any words of wisdom.  I could not say anything to help him with his pain.  But the service for him was just in compassionately being there.  We shook hands when the deputy came to take him back to his cell.  I was exhausted and spirit-filled, all at the same time.

The conversation reminded me of something I read: if you want to feel close to God, go out and love someone, because serving the other in love is what we were made for.