PRISON AND JAIL MINISTRY NEWSLETTER

September/October 2026

Dear Volunteers and Friends,

We begin September by celebrating the feast of St. Gregory the Great, who reminds us, “The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.” He also warned against hypocrisy, stating that, "No one does more harm in the Church than he who has the title or rank of holiness and acts perversely."

For our ministry, St. Gregory’s words are a call to ensure that love remains active, visible, and rooted in humility. This work requires a great love for the other and a willingness to serve in unfamiliar and humble places - qualities each of you continues to embrace.

Thank you for your loving service and for helping spread the Gospel through your presence, compassion, and faithful witness. May this month renew us in the works of love we are called to carry forward with humility and servant leadership.

Jubilee Year of St. Francis Prayer

During this Jubilee Year of St. Francis, please pray this prayer with our incarcerated friends at the end of each service. If you would like printed copies, please let me know and we will be happy to mail you them.

Saint Francis, our brother, you who eight hundred years ago went to

meet Sister Death as a man at peace, intercede for us before the Lord.

You recognized true peace in the Crucifix of San Damiano, teach us to

seek in Him the source of all reconciliation that breaks down every wall.

You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of war and misunderstanding,

give us the courage to build bridges where the world raises up boundaries. In this time afflicted by conflict and division, intercede for us so that we may become peacemakers: unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ.

Amen

MDOC Kent County Justice Involved Reentry Resource Summit

Nearly 100 returning citizens attended the MDOC Resource Summit on Thursday, July 30, which we again sponsored and hosted at Cathedral Square Center. This year's event was another success!

Thank you sincerely for your donations! We are extremely thankful for the unwavering generosity of our parish and school communities! In total we collected 4 Chromebooks, 84 backpacks filled with towels/toiletries, and 28 gift cards. We had such an amazing response that we were also able to make donations to the men and women's CLEAR groups, and help stock a new reentry house!

Extra thanks to Our Lady of Consolation School and Holy Spirit Parish who hosted large donation drives and contributed countless backpacks, socks, and toiletries!

Officers Kaitlin Bernardo and Ray Erickson welcome returning citizens to join the CLEAR program.

Angie Sprank (Offender Success), Joe Haveman

(Hope Network) and Tricia Worrell.

Returning citizens meet with service providers.

Tricia discusss restorative justice with a

student and service provider.

Summit participants enjoy lunch and

listen for raffle winners.

70x7 Life Recovery - one of the many service providers present at the summit.

New Service at Ernest C. Brooks (LRF)

There are men in Level I at LRF requesting Catholic services so we added a weekly Level I service to this schedule. This service time will be Thursdays after the Level II service. This new service will begin September 1, and you will see this change on the schedule in Sign-up Genius. Our Level II volunteers will now lead both Level I and Level II services.

Level II Service Time Change and New Chaplain at Bellamy Creek (IBC)

Due to staffing issues at IBC, they changed our Level II Sunday service to Wednesdays at 6:10 pm in July. Moving this service from Sundays to Wednesdays will reduce the chances of it being canceled due to staffing issues, and hopefully allow more priests to celebrate Mass for the Level II men.

Kyle Davis started in August as the new chaplain at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility. If you see him, introduce yourself and give him a warm welcome. Please pray for Chaplain Davis as he grows into this new position!

New and Returning Volunteers

Please welcome our new and returning volunteers! Vickie McReynolds (Immaculate Heart of Mary) will be volunteering at Ionia Correctional. Michael Morrison (Holy Spirit) and Bob Brown (St. Joesph, Wright) will be volunteering at Brooks Correctional in Muskegon. We also have a few other new volunteers who are awaiting their facility orientations at Bellamy and Carson City before they begin shadowing!

Restorative Justice Training at Handlon

On Aug. 25 and 26, we organized a Restorative Practice Training at Richard A. Handlon prison in Ionia. I along with Christine Gilman, Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Center of West Michigan facilitated the training for 30 of our incarcerated friends. Many of the men who participated in this training are members of our Restorative Justice Club that meets weekly to learn about restorative living, practices and justice.

We also hope to offer this training soon for the men at Muskegon Correctional Facility who are part of the Restorative Justice Alliance Group. I and numerous members of the Michigan Restorative Justice Council will meet with this group on September 3 to discuss restorative living and a proposal for a restorative practice training for all alliance members.

Webpage Updates

We updated our webpage to make accessing the Volunteer Resources easier. Volunteer Resources are now located in the blue section of our webpage directly below our Serve, Restore, Grow icons. There is a vertical menu on the left side of the page which allows volunteers to toggle between schedules, Communion sheets, and newsletters. Please take a look at the screenshot below!

If you have additional feedback or questions regarding the webpage, please email Nicole at ndoppel@grdiocese.org .

Upcoming Events

Annual Christmas Drive

We are collecting new plastic reading glasses, new white tube or crew socks, and individually wrapped Kellogg's Rice Krispies treats this year. Please share our Christmas Drive Flyer with your friends, family, and parish staff as appropriate. If you would like printed copies, contact me and I will be happy to mail them to you. All donations need to be delivered to Cathedral Square Center, 360 Division Ave. S., no later than Friday, Dec. 11.

Annual Appreciation Dinner

Save the date for our 2027 appreciation dinner! Our guest speaker will be Father Jeremy Hiers, O.S.A., Vocation Director of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova. A formal invitation will be sent via email later this fall.

Don't Miss Out!

This newsletter contains all ministry information, updates, schedules and resources. Program volunteers, please be sure to read it in its entirety. You may also locate all volunteer information and resources on our page at anytime.

May the peace, joy, and love of Christ live in your heart today and always!

Tricia Worrell

Director, Prison and Jail Ministry

tworrell@grdiocese.org

616-475-1255