Bishop encounters, bolsters Christ’s love while visiting local prisons

We are called to choose the good and follow Christ. We need his help to do this. We need God’s grace in order to heal from the wounds caused by sin and to grow in stature as disciples of the Lord.”

Bishop Ralph B. O’Donnell

A fellow priest once told Bishop Ralph B. O’Donnell: “Always remember, Christ is there to meet us wherever he sends us.”

The bishop expressed that he had no doubt that the Lord would be present to greet him through those he would encounter at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City the morning of Saturday, May 30.

“I knew I’d see the Lord here,” he told a group of men who live there. “I hope through the good ministry of the Church, you see him in here, too.”

Bishop O’Donnell spoke to about 20 residents at Mass in the chapel at Algoa, a men’s minimum-security state prison in Jefferson City.

They are but a few of the thousands of men and women who are incarcerated within this diocese, which is home to eight state correctional institutions for adults — two across the road from each other in Jefferson City.

At Algoa, Bishop O’Donnell celebrated a Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

He called to mind Jesus’s Parable of the Last Judgement, when the Son of Man, like a shepherd, will separate the sheep from the goats: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me,” (Matthew 25:34-36).

“That’s how I knew I would find him here,” the bishop proclaimed.

He echoed opening of the day’s reading from 2 Corinthians: “Brothers and sisters, rejoice! Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

He acknowledged that these are simple but sometimes elusive instructions.

“It’s not that hard to follow Jesus,” he noted. “I find that it only gets tough for me when I stand in the way, or when I think I know better than he does.”

The bishop said standing in judgement of oneself or other people puts believers on the wrong track.

“God’s love is freely given,” the bishop insisted. “St. Paul reminds us that ‘Christ died for us while we were still sinners.’ He loves us absolutely, unconditional of how we are right now.”

The devil tries to trick people into believing that they first must be good before God will love them and give them the grace they need.

“We are indeed called to mend our ways,” the bishop stated regarding St. Paul’s exhortation in 2 Corinthians. “We are called to choose the good and follow Christ. We need his help to do this. We need God’s grace in order to heal from the wounds caused by sin and to grow in stature as disciples of the Lord.”

A time to mend

Father Donald Antweiler, who offers Mass in the Algoa chapel each Saturday morning, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop O’Donnell.

Deacon Keith Henke, who assists the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Taos, proclaimed the Gospel reading and assisted at the altar.

Algoa residents served as sacristans, lectors, song leaders and altar servers.

Bishop O’Donnell repeated the well-known verse from that day’s Gospel reading: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him,” (John 3:16-17).

“God came to us and was born of the Virgin Mary to save us,” the bishop reminded the assembly. “In the Nativity story, we hear of him willingly spending his first moments in a wooden manger, and of him going on to advance in wisdom and favor before God and men.”

At the pinnacle of Jesus’s earthly ministry, he accepted death on the wood of the cross.

“His ‘yes’ on the cross is the sign of our salvation,” said Bishop O’Donnell. “We are called every day to say ‘yes’ back to him.”

That “yes” is different for each person, as God created every individual differently, each for a specific purpose in the Church and the world.

But all receive the same call from God to be followers of Christ.

“That call is always being renewed in us,” the bishop noted.

Regarding St. Paul’s exhortation in 2 Corinthians to “mend your ways,” the bishop pointed to several references in the Bible to the Apostle Peter and his fellow fishermen mending their nets.

“They can’t do it by themselves,” Bishop O’Donnell noted. “Mending our ways is very much like that. We cannot do it alone. We have to invite the Lord in to mend our ways.”

Accordingly, the bishop invited everyone to ask God for that essential grace and help every day.

Bishop O’Donnell noted that it is a grace and privilege to “stand at this altar together today.”

“I promise to pray for you, and I ask your prayers for me,” he said.

“Never alone”

This was Bishop O’Donnell’s third prison visit since becoming bishop of Jefferson City. He previously offered Mass at the Moberly Correctional Center and at the Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green.

Before the Mass at Algoa, he greeted and conversed with residents and volunteer partners in corrections (PICs) from outside.

Several shared where they’re from, what’s been going on with people close to them, how God is working in them, and what kind of life they hope to have after being released.

While getting ready for Mass, Bishop O’Donnell explained the significance of each vestment he was putting on:

• the alb — a plain, white garment he wears over his clothes, symbolizing his Baptism;
• the stole — a long, embroidered piece of woven fabric he wears over his shoulders like a yoke, symbolizing the work of the priestly office he holds;
• the zuchetta — the purple skullcap a bishop wears at Mass to mark the part of his head that was anointed with Sacred Chrism at his ordination to the Episcopacy; and
• the chasuble — an embroidered, bell-shaped garment without sleeves that a priest wears over everything else, reminiscent of the robes once worn by Roman soldiers and elected officials, representing the charity of Christ.

“Everything is to be covered in charity,” Bishop O’Donnell emphasized.

Fr. Antweiler said he was impressed with having the bishop be present and in touch with the Catholic flock at Algoa.

“We want you to know that you are never alone,” said Fr. Antweiler. “God is with you, and you’re part of the Church. Our bishop affirms that by being here with God’s people.”

After Mass, Bishop O’Donnell thanked Lois Thomas for her years of volunteer service in prison ministry; Fr. Antweiler for offering Mass at Algoa each week; Deacon Henke for assisting him; and all the other volunteers for coming into the prison for Mass and fellowship with the men there.

“Lois is awesome!” one of the residents told the bishop. “She’s been coming in and doing this for years.”

Steven Branigan, an Algoa resident who provided guitar accompaniment for the Mass, said having Bishop O’Donnell visit and offer the Holy Sacrifice there was “awesome ... a great spiritual experience.”

Mr. Branigan was especially struck by the bishop’s assurance of Christ’s presence in and among the assembly that morning.

“Nothing but sheep here!” Mr. Branigan stated, referring back to Matthew 25. “I don’t feel like a goat anymore.”