An Abbey Ministry

 I was Naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.  (Matthew 25:36)

Lord, have mercy! Each of us cry out these familiar words at Mass – an appeal to the Lord, the giver of life, for compassion and understanding as we, in our human state, fall short of the pursuit of perfection. And in our need for mercy, we are all called to be dispensers that same mercy – it was in the pursuit of sharing the mercy of God and the Love of Christ that drove Fr. Louis Kirby to serve those in need – those in prison.

A member of Holy Cross Abbey in Cañon City, Colorado, Fr. Louis Kirby, OSB, regularly served in the 9 prisons that were near to his monastic home.  Seeing the need to structure in the inmates’ prayer lives, Fr. Louis established a ministry to help form men in prison as Benedictine Oblates. It was his hope that, through regular prayer and practicing Lectio Divina, the men he served might grow in virtue and in relationship with Christ through the Rule of St. Benedict. Over time the Holy Cross community grew smaller and in 2004 Fr. Louis transferred his vow of stability to St Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kansas. True to his calling he availed himself to prison ministry and began to build the oblate ministry again.

Fr. Louis served the ministry faithfully until his death in 2013 – the ministry flagged briefly before Fr. Matthew Habiger, OSB, received a letter from one of the oblates, inspiring to take the helm and transform the program, growing it exponentially from local prisons to serving more than 550 Oblates in 123 prisons across 27 states. Fr. Matthew’s years of ministry in parishes and educational institutions, as his PhD degree in Moral Theology, and decade of service as Director of Human Life International (a global, Catholic, pro-life educational apostolate that seeks to blunt the trend in the abortion movement) prepared him to lead the program. As the ministry grew Fr. Matthew sought assistance and is aided in his mission of mercy by Craig Cummins, the Co-Director of the Ministry, Brian Heinrichus, and Krystal Heinrichus, all Oblates of long-standing who help with the day-to-day ministry.

The ministry brings on 3-5 new Oblates each month.  Incarcerated oblates are reached by some 30 pen pals, who write more than 100 letters each month to some 150 inmates, as well as offering a Newsletter, which is sent to 400 members, and has an even larger distribution within each prison.  The Prison Oblate Ministry has also distributed several hundred bibles, Daily Prayer books, and other spiritual literature, rosaries and scapulars. 

Oblates often share that the spiritual benefit of following the Rule of St Benedict to a prisoner is transformative:  it structures life in meaningful ways, adds spiritual direction, and provides the comfort to having a path to follow for salvation.  In addition, it allows the prisoner to discover meaning and value in a hostile and dehumanizing place. The Prison Oblate Ministry offers numerous benefits: community, mutual support, council, and a true sense of belonging.  The aim of all of this is to transform the experience of prison from an individual struggling to do penance to instead become a group of like-minded people embracing a common Rule of life, praying and doing penance together.  The point of doing a prison term is no longer solely to suffer, but to pray, learn and change those things about us that brought us to our current circumstance.  Heinrichus, a former inmate, says emphatically said praying the Divine Office together with other Oblates prisoners made life livable. 

Oblates frequently find ministries in prison to take their own spiritual growth to, in turn, help others.  They often are prayer leaders, music ministers, organizers of prayer groups, and catechizers within their units, teaching others about the Catholic faith.  Oblates frequently reach out to counsel other Catholics, Christians, or people of no faith.  One particular Oblate is very active in his prison’s hospice, and many help care for the sick in their units.  The ministry grows largely because our imprisoned Oblates are widely recognized as having found peace in a hostile environment. 

Fr. Matthew and his team are trying some new initiatives to grow the Prison Oblate Ministry.  The vast majority of our Oblate population are men, largely due to the historical fact that all of the prisons around Cañon City are men’s prisons.  Contact has been made with women’s prisons yielding some growth.  The ministry continues to reach out to more prisons in new states to help bring the incarcerated to find God.  Catholic clergy and prison chaplains have been, and continue to be, very encouraging and are helping us identify Catholic inmates.