Corrections Corner / Deacon John Cord

Mission of Corrections Ministry continues to evolve

The original vision for the archdiocesan Corrections Ministry was created by Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin in 2015. The vision included: working directly with the incarcerated; creating a system to help those returning to society to successfully re-integrate; assisting the families of the incarcerated while they were away in prison; and creating educational information to be used in helping people involved in this ministry.

Archbishop Tobin also asked if some of the empty buildings owned by the archdiocese could be re-purposed into transitional housing or recovery housing.

The committee created to guide the ministry focused mostly on education for the past few years and had not progressed in the other areas.

Immediately after I started in this position in January, we held a Corrections Committee team meeting. We reviewed the original goals for the committee and reflected on our progress. The team realized that we had not grown a significant amount in the remaining areas.

We decided that we needed to know exactly who was involved in corrections ministries across the archdiocese before we could create an action plan to address future growth. We created a survey and sent it out to all 126 parishes and to more than 450 individuals.

There are 39 jails in the archdiocese, including county jails, eight state correctional facilities and the federal prison in Terre Haute. From this survey, we learned that about 80 lay volunteers, 14 deacons and six priests regularly visit 14 of the 39 jails.

Of those 14 facilities, we do have lay people going into all eight of the state prisons and the federal prison on a regular basis.

In terms of priests, we learned that we have priests going into the federal prison and five of the state prisons regularly to celebrate Mass and hear confessions.

However, we have two state prisons where no priest has visited to hear confessions in 5-7 years. That number of state prisons was three, until Archbishop Charles C. Thompson’s March 26 offering of Mass at the Plainfield Correctional Facility in March, with assistance from Deacon Martin “Neil” May of St. Susanna Parish in Plainfield and Father Sean Danda of St. Malachy Parish in Brownsburg concelebrating the Mass and hearing confessions afterward. About 30 offenders attended the Mass. (Related article: Men in Plainfield prison ‘so grateful’ of sacraments, time with archbishop)

Archbishop Thompson was also able to celebrate Mass on March 18 at the Putnamville Correctional Facility in Putnamville. Father John Hollowell of Annunciation Parish in Brazil and

St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Greencastle concelebrated the Mass, and Deacon Thomas Hosty of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis assisted. About 54 offenders attended the Mass. Father Hollowell stayed afterward to hear confessions.

We also learned from the survey that we do not have anyone who is helping people re-enter society in a systematic way, and we do not have anyone who is regularly working with the families of the incarcerated.

The committee is now working on a comprehensive plan for a re-entry model. We are hoping to launch a pilot program in partnership with the Indiana Department of Corrections this year. If this program is successful, we will need many volunteers as we expand across the archdiocese. Volunteers will be needed as case workers and mentors to work with men and women as they come back home.

If you feel called to corrections ministry, whether it be going into a jail or prison or working with those who are re-entering society, or working with the families of the incarcerated, please reach out to me.
 

(Deacon John Cord is the coordinator of Corrections Ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. To volunteer in prison ministry, check with your parish office to see if a ministry already exists. If not, contact Deacon Cord at jcord@archindy.org.) †