The idea of bringing God to prison has a long history. Beginning in 1829 and for almost 70 years, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia used a Quaker system that encouraged spiritual reflection and change.
The Cursillo movement, which came to the United States in 1957, began holding programs in prison; it was decided the programs should be ecumenical and a new ecumenical Christian program, named the Kairos Prison Ministry, was developed. The first Kairos weekend was held in Florida in 1979. The Kairos Prison Ministry was chartered in Florida. It took the place of the Cursillo prison weekends.
It was shortly before Christmas, 2003, that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush turned Florida’s Lawtey Correctional Institution (LCI) into the nation’s first faith-based prison — a facility where spirituality in all faiths is encouraged. It is about 10 miles north of Starke.
Henry “Bud” Cope, of Monesson, Pennsylvania, and a former chairman of the St. Dismas Prison Ministry, read about Florida’s faith-based prison and saw it as an opportunity to hold the first St. Dismas Metanoia Retreat in Florida at LCI.
Cope contacted Father Robert McDermott, a prison chaplain in residence at St. Patrick Parish in Gainesville. That led to a meeting with senior chaplains William Wright and William McCutchen and approval from prison authorities to hold a St. Dismas Metanoia Retreat at Lawtey.
St. Dismas is the “good thief,” one of the two who were hanging on their crosses alongside Jesus on Calvary. The other thief taunted Jesus to save Himself. Dismas defended Jesus; and Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”
St. Dismas is now the patron saint of prisoners and St. Dismas Metanoia (change of heart or conversion) Retreats are held in prisons on the weekends. The retreat weekend at Lawtey was in late September.
One of the inmates wrote later,
Our experience was cut short because of the hurricane coming on Sunday. But God put it in the hearts of the wardens, and the authorities in Tallahassee, to let our retreat continue until 11:30PM on Saturday. This experience has left me wanting so much more. My belief and faith in the Catholic way of life has been fully restored by this metanoia (change of heart). The abundance of knowledge, kindness and generosity of the Associate Brothers of St. Dismas compelled me to take the one major life-changing step in living a Catholic life and to live for “our Almighty Father God!”
One of the St. Dismas team members said, “One prisoner was very angry when he arrived at the retreat, but by Friday afternoon his expression started to change and he even smiled a few times. Another inmate went over to his table and said, ‘I just had to come over to tell you that I have known you for two years, and I have never seen you smile.’ The man’s response was a smile.”
Joy Perry, from St. Patrick Parish and a St. Dismas team member, says “It was the most rewarding thing to witness the Holy Spirit at work. There were tears in the eyes of the hardest members on the retreat as the letters from the children of St. Patrick Interparish School were read. This is truly what we are all called to do: Spread the Gospel. The men related scriptural readings and teachings of the Church to their own lives. The change in each member was evident. You could feel the Holy Spirit in the room before the end of the weekend and I was truly blessed to be a part of it.”
Father McDermott says, “The Holy Spirit was clearly present in the room where the talks and meditations were held. As sons and daughters of God we are called upon to evangelize…. Everyone present realized no one is ever alone because God and I are an overwhelming majority.”
Normally at a four-day retreat, each inmate is provided with a Bible, a cross, a prayer book and song book. There are prayers, meditations, singing. The retreat is patterned after Cursillo which began in Spain after World War II during preparations for the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Compostela. There is no cost to the institution for holding the retreat.
Today, the St. Dismas ministry is conducting ongoing retreats in more than 20 institutions. Ministry team members cite a prison in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where a group of inmates pray the rosary daily for other inmates' needs. At another prison, near Pittsburgh, a group of inmates are serving as nurses’ aides and have developed a hospice program for terminally ill prisoners.
The Mission of the St. Dismas Prison Ministry is to create an atmosphere in which prisoners will change their hearts and lives. This will be achieved by building Christian community and presenting Catholic truths in a way that the prisoners will understand. They will become dynamic apostles for the living God and work toward the conversion of the whole prison population and of the world they live in when they are released.
Team members say that the objectives of the retreat are to soften relationships between inmates; bring non-Catholics into the faith; create an interest in Bible study programs; increase participation of Catholics at Mass; provide them the benefit of support from outside.
Results: Many of the prisoners join the Brothers of St. Dismas Fraternity; the rate at which released prisoners return to crime has dropped to 20 percent or to 1 in 5. (The four released prisoners who do not return to prison save taxpayers $100,000 a year.)
Or, as Bud Cope suggests, “If, as a result of what you have read, your interest is aroused, you might consider contacting your local pastor for direction. Remember the words of Jesus, ‘Blessed are those who care for the least of their brothers.’”
To learn about the St. Dismas Prison Ministry click here.
(This article courtesy of the St. Augustine Catholic Magazine.)
