Chaplains bring faith, hope to inmates in area jails

By Lena Pennino
Staff Reporter

Sister Michelle Bremer sat with six men dressed in their “greens” (slang for jail uniforms).

They prayed together quietly in Spanish almost in sync with the sound of shackles jingling outside the chapel at Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead as an inmate walked by.
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Can you share some moments in jail ministry when you knew you were making a difference?
 

“A policeman had been killed by someone who was high on drugs and alcohol going the wrong way on the expressway … In jail, I brought communion to this inmate each week … Here he was, he lost his freedom, he was slated for 25 years upstate, his wife left him, his daughter had brain cancer and he couldn’t be there for her. I felt terrible for him. Eight or nine years later, I went to Clinton (correctional facility) upstate and a chaplain kept talking about this guy who helped give sacramental instruction and who led Bible study.
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St. Patrick Church, Glen Cove

The oldest parish in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, St. Patrick’s was founded in 1856 to serve an area populated by Irish immigrants who left their country looking for relief from the potato famine. The original boundaries of the parish, which staffed several missions, outlined present-day Nassau County.
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Westbury — Like sheep in a fold, the young people — dressed in dark blue with the initials JDC on their backs — walked single file into the room with their hands clasped behind them.
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Rockville Centre — Bishop William Murphy and the diocesan Office of Worship have announced plans for implementing Vatican norms for purification of Eucharistic vessels after Mass beginning in Lent.
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New York (CNS) — With their decision to distribute 18 million free condoms to the public, New York City officials are failing “to protect the moral tone of our community,” two Catholic leaders charged.
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CCC again offering Lenten radio retreats in both English, Spanish

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Washington (CNS) — Based on their popularity last year, the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign is reprising a Lenten series of radio retreats in English and Spanish.
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Washington (CNS) — Catholic social ministry leaders got an unusual message Feb. 12 as they were preparing for a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill: Thank your legislators for supporting the funding of a massive program to combat the spread of the global AIDS/HIV pandemic.
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Vatican City (CNS) — An Italian legislative proposal that would grant some legal rights to unwed couples — including same-sex partners — has set the stage for a major church-state showdown.
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San Francisco (CNS) — A new book to be published in March by HarperSanFrancisco brings together what its editors call “the central writings and speeches” of Pope Benedict XVI.
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Around 4 million more Afghan children are formally educated today than in 2001, said a church worker.

Afghan children — including girls — go to school in a home, where they sit on the floor and are taught by a teacher, said Sara Bowers, head of the education program for Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ international relief and development agency.
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Washington (CNS) — Two U.S. senators lauded the work of people in Catholic social ministry and asked for their continued support in working to improve the lot of the poor.
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Los Angeles (CNS) — If a child has been molested, caring adults need to provide a safe, encouraging environment for the child to talk about it, says an abuse prevention handbook used in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and in many other Catholic dioceses and parishes around the country.
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Here is a summary of key guidelines that the “Teaching Touching Safety” program offers to parents or other caring adults when a child reports having been improperly touched or sexually abused.
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