Bishop celebrates Mass for inmates

UNION TOWNSHIP — For most Catholics, going to Mass means going to their parish church. Inmates at the Edna Mahon Women’s Correctional Facility in Annandale, however, attend Mass not in their parish, but in their prison’s library, except on special occasions. One of those times was Aug. 28.
Located in the minimum security area of the prison grounds surrounded by barbed wire is the Good Shepherd Church of Clinton. It was built on the Clinton Farms property in 1912. It is where, on his second visit to the prison, Bishop James F. Checchio celebrated Mass.
Accompanying the bishop on his pastoral visit were members of the prison ministry at Immaculate Conception Parish in Annandale. Volunteers for the ministry go to the Edna Mahan Women’s Correctional Facility several times a month. Every other week, one of the priests from their parish attends to celebrate Mass for the inmates, the location for which alternates between the maximum and minimum security areas.
According to the parish website, the congregation of Immaculate Conception includes the prison population of the Edna Mahan Facility for Women. Weekly communion services are held for prisoners in both the minimum and maximum security areas. Two to three times a year, an eight-week diocesan based Bereavement Program is offered, and the slots are always filled. Bible Study and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) are also offered, which provide impoverished women completing their sentences, emergency clothing, food and transportation to their homes.
Commenting on the Immaculate Conception volunteers, Julie Michaels who attended RCIA classes and was baptized and confirmed at the correctional facility stated, “I was one of the first people to be baptized Catholic here in 2015. The people who come make us feel great inside. They bring us church, positive energy and hope. They help us to feel human. Sometimes you don’t feel human here. I feel like they are part of my family.”  
Debra Benigno noted, “It’s a very nice thing for the bishop to come here. It’s a different feeling to have Mass in a church. That’s a privilege, I understand. But with the church here, it’s an extra blessing to be able to celebrate here. It gives me a pleasant feeling inside.”
The Mass was celebrated on the feast of St. Augustine. Bishop Checchio said it was an honor and a privilege for him to be there to celebrate Mass and grateful to be able to celebrate it in the chapel.
“He [St. Augustine] has one of the greatest conversion stories of our Church,” Bishop Checchio said. “This is a great story about the power of prayer and how by his mother’s prayer he was converted. We should never       underestimate the power of prayer.”
He reminded those in attendance to keep their prayer life strong.
Baptized after going through the RCIA program Evy Muniz said, “I would like to thank the Church for being heartfelt and diligent and thinking about us. We take ourselves a lot of places in life but we find little houses of God’s along the road. The great thing is that he is always there and we can just walk right in.”
Deacon Michael A. Meyer, who works with the volunteers, said that the parish is responsible for the spiritual needs of the Catholic population for Edna Mahan and Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility, also in Annandale.
“We are trying to now build our volunteer base to be able to offer more help,” he said. “The bishop is very supportive and typically comes and administers the sacraments when candidates are prepared to receive baptism or confirmation.”
After Mass, Bishop Checchio and the volunteers toured the cemetery behind Good Shepherd Church. As another one of their projects, the parish volunteers would like to work on restoring the cemetery. Some inmates and some of their children are buried there.
“We have to go through several steps to see if we could do a renovation,” Deacon Meyers said. “Some of the tombstones are very old and we want to repair them and find the ones that are grown over through the years.”
Edna Mahan was a reformative type of supervisor. At the time she served at Clinton Farms, women who were pregnant would have their children there and the children would live with their mothers. The conditions were less than ideal at that time (early 1900’s) and many of the children died. They were buried behind the church. Mahan was superintendant of Clinton Farms for 40 years.
Reflecting on Immaculate Conception’s volunteers at the prison, Father Jonathan S. Toborowsky, pastor said, “This ministry is wonderful. When you think of something like this, your mind creates fear and trepidation. But this is very organized and being with the inmates has been a wonderful experience. They are welcoming and it has been a great blessing for me.
“There are people in the prison chaplain’s office who are good at identifying the needs of the ladies and we try to meet them,” he added. “One of the women who has a job here is very faithful with sending us a tithe. She makes a small amount but every month she sends something small to the church. We have her in our records as a contributing parishioner.”  
Bishop Checchio said, “Certainly I receive more than I give each time I come here. These ladies are in tuned with what is going on in the diocese. One of them even sent me some money for the Bishop’s Annual appeal.”
Deacon Meyer emphasized the need for more volunteers at the correctional facility, which houses about 1,000 state-sentenced female inmates, according to its website.
“This is a wonderful ministry,” he said. “Anyone who is interested should contact the Immaculate Conception Parish office and we will be happy to walk them through the process.”
Joining the ministry would reflect the Gospel: “When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you? The king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers or mine, you did for me.’” (Mt 25:39-40)