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Giving the Catholic Church a Chance Behind Bars

Originally published in the National Catholic Register, November 3-9, 2002, by Joseph Pronechen, Register Correspondent

Fairfax, Va. – Behind prison bars, inmates looking to change their lives are confronted with everything from anti-Catholic sects to isolation. But some can also find their way to Catholicism through the apostolate First Century Christian Ministries.

In addition to the sacraments, “every Catholic prisoner interested should have access to…a good, solid Catholic Bible and good, solid orthodox Catholic material,” said Joseph Strada, chairman of First Century Christian Ministries board. A former career U.S. naval officer with a doctorate in aerospace engineering, he became interested in this lay apostolate after reading articles by the organization’s co-founder, Russell Ford.

Facing a Catholic prison population estimated at more than half a million, the non-profit prison ministry has set out to evangelize at least some inmates by getting Bibles, rosaries, catechism, sacramentals such as the brown scapular and respected magazines and books into their hands via prison chaplains.

In the 70 prisons across the country where First Century Christian Ministries currently sends material, it also informs inmates of free courses or books on the Catholic faith available to them. In addition, the group runs a spiritual pen pal program.

The prison ministry office of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla., has received material from First Century Christian Ministries since 1999. “I can’t speak highly enough of FCCM,” said Heidi Sumner, secretary to office head Deacon John Alvarez. “They have donated a wealth of materials from their members to our ministry.” Lay volunteers then distribute the materials in 16 correctional facilities in the five-county diocese.

Sumner said the office regularly receives the First Century Christian Ministries newsletter, “The Perfect Prisoner.” The message it contains is very pertinent to inmates’ lives,” she said. The newsletter reaches 1,100 people, three-fourths of whom are prisoners.

First Century Christian Ministries was founded in the early 1990s by two Catholic convict-converts in a most unlikely place – an Alabama prison in the Bible Belt. Ford, the group’s moving force, is still serving a 25-year term. Once a hardened criminal, he converted to Catholicism in 1988 after a catechism lesson on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Since then, Ford himself has converted more than 100 other prisoners who are his godsons, written The Missionary’s Catechism (with forward by Catholic Answers’ Karl Keating) and penned articles for Catholic magazines on his conversion and evangelization efforts.

Co-founder Phil Hanna, now retired and living in Alabama, was Ford’s first godson. Hanna said he thinks reaching prisoners is possible because God specializes in doing the impossible.

The ideas for First Century Christian Ministries’ avenues for service to “Christ in prison” were in major part inspired by Father Robert Fox’s video series Sharing the Faith, shown weekly to inmates interested in the Catholic faith, Hanna explained.

“[Because] prisoners are very competitive, even in religious stuff, we had a very spirited as well as informative [question-answer] sessions. The lessons also served as a springboard for questions about the Catholic faith,” he said. Conversions followed.

First Century Christian Ministries spiritual director Msgr. Lawrence Sweeney, who holds a graduate degree in psychology and is pastor of Holy Family Parish in Ogden, Utah, emphasized “all the counseling in prison is fruitless without the help of God.”

He referred to statistics from a study Ford did of his Alabama prison’s parolees between 1990-95 and published in The Homiletic and Pastoral Review. The general recidivism rate was 80%. The number was the same for Baptist prisoners and less than 1 point lower for a radical Islamic group. But the rate was zero for Catholics who became committed to morning and evening prayer and at least weekly Sunday Mass.

“It shows the great power of Christ’s death and resurrection,” noted Msgr. Sweeney, “given to people who really put their time into the Mass, say morning prayers and thank him with evening prayers. Christ is the only savior. It ain’t Freud. The FCCM, as best they can, give [prisoners] hope when they get out of prison.”

Solidly Orthodox

According to Strada, First Century Christian Ministries aims to save souls by distributing only solid orthodox Catholic material. His examples include Envoy and This Rock magazines, Tan and Ignatius Press publishers, and Marytown. The group tries to counter the Catholic material with an unorthodox slant that often reaches prisoners, he said, “with good Catholic matter faithful to the Church.”

Getting solid Catholic Bibles to inmates is most important because Protestant versions often carry “footnotes” that undermine the faith,” Strada said. “Catholic men are easily misled if they don’t have these solid materials.” At the same time, some Protestant chaplains write First Century Christian Ministries seeking material for Catholic inmates.

One chaplain who has received First Century Christian Ministries materials is Deacon Jose Rodriguez, director of prison ministry in the five-county Diocese of Laredo, Texas. In Laredo alone, more than 1,000 prisoners fill county jails and detention centers. On the day Rodriguez spoke to the Register, he had given out his last five rosaries, a small amount compared to the number of prisoners. “Whatever they send me,” he said, “they help.”

Through First Century Christian Ministries, Rodriguez has received Bibles and a booklet in Spanish called “Our Blessed Mother, Virgin of Guadalupe” that is particularly popular among inmates, as are scapulars.

How important can the Catholic material be? When recipients leave the prisons for whatever reasons, “they go happy,” Rodriguez said, “because they take the Bible with them.”

Inmates who receive material likely evangelize others. “Prisoners don’t throw anything away,” Strada said. “They’ll pass it on to 10 other guys to read.”

First Century Christian Ministries also reaches out with a spiritual pen pal effort. Rules are stringent. To provide a degree of safety, only first names are used. Letters are exchanged through an intermediary such as Strada. Inmates must be baptized, have a serious interest in the Catholic faith, agree not to ask for gifts or money (small items like prayer cards are okay) and can’t request legal assistance of any kind.

“We think justice should be done,” Strada said. “We don’t get involved in any legal or political issues.”

Pen pals are normally of same sex, but Strada said he will utilize women in a highly protected way, even using pseudonyms. Inmates must agree to make no romantic overtures. Any violation can mean being dropped from the program.

At. St. Patrick’s Church in Smithtown, N.Y., Father Douglas Arcoleo, spiritual director of the local Legion of Mary, explained to members the pen pal program was a spiritual and corporal work of mercy.

In “Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice,” issued in 2000, “the bishops are very clear we have to reach out to the prisoners behind the bars and to the families they left behind,” Father Arcoleo noted. He found the pen pal program “a nice marriage between the bishops’ document, the FCCM and the Legion of Mary’s goals.”

Member Stephen Mroz had been writing for a year to a pen pal in prison. “At first it was very uncomfortable,” Mroz said, “and I didn’t want to do anything to turn away from the main purpose – to bring God, Jesus and the whole Trinity to them.” But since a medical condition confines Mroz to his home most of the time, he could empathize with inmates.

“We’re cooped up,” he said, “and don’t want to be where we are.” Now he sees the letters as having a dual purpose. “Anyone who writes them adds a little bit of comfort in their day.” Another prisoner he wrote to through the program has yet to respond. Still, he’s not discouraged and will stay with the program because he believes the inmate he corresponds with has grown stronger in the Catholic faith.

First Century Christian Ministries takes a no-nonsense, realistic view for pen pals. Strada said inmates are not altar boys – many are repentant and genuinely converted – but others are still con men who “see a sympathetic Christian as another person to con,” he said. Hence the group’s strong screening program.

“When a man finds himself at rock bottom,” Strada explained, “he’s open to the Holy Spirit, and a man will grasp that.”

But behind bars, he said, the men can encounter proselytizing for Islam sects, pornography and drugs.

“If we’re not in there with the Gospel, something else will grab them,” Strada said. “While they have their debt to society, we have an obligation to save their souls.”

Information:

First Century Christian Ministries
c/o Joseph Strada
5120 Pheasant Ridge Rd.
Fairfax, VA 22030