'Encouragement and faith'

MIAMI � Henry Perez, 50, called it a blessing that he was among 100 Everglades Correctional Institution inmates chosen to attend a Mass which Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated at the prison.

�I participate in most of the Catholic services so I was able to make the list,� said Perez, who is serving his third year of a 25-year sentence. �I guess the Lord wanted me to be here today.�

Perez said that he never read the Bible until he came to prison. He comes to religious events in order to learn.

�I take this as a schooling so that when I leave here I�ll do the Lord�s work,� he said as he sat in a pew waiting for Mass to begin. �I�d like to be involved in prison ministry someday. I�ll leave that in the hands of God.�

Perez will be eligible for parole in 2029, after serving 21 years of his sentence.

Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC

Deacon Ralph Gazitua proclaims the Gospel.

Archbishop Wenski told the inmates that God sees everyone as his sons and daughters.

�That gives you a dignity that no one can take away from you despite the harsh realities of prison life,� he said. �We see the violence in the world. It�s not a great picture. All of you must try to model what a reconciled world looks like.�

He reminded the inmates that Jesus Christ was arrested and condemned to die.

�Jesus is close to you because he�s been a prisoner,� the archbishop said. �Jesus said if someone visits those in prison, then you visit me. I consider it a privilege to be here today with you. The Church outside of these walls hasn�t forgotten you.�

Everglades Correctional Institution is a maximum security state facility located on the edge of the Everglades at Krome Avenue. Its 1,600 male inmates, who range in age from 20 to 79, rarely see a priest. But they have a prison chaplain, Deacon Alex Lam, and two other deacons, Ralph Gazitua and Edgardo Farias, head of the archdiocese�s Detention Ministry, visit the prison regularly.

Every Tuesday there is a liturgical hour and one Saturday each month inmates can participate in a �praise and worship� service.

�Catholic religious were the first to come into (Everglades Correctional) when it opened 13 years ago,� said Deacon Lam. �We give them words of encouragement and faith. I tell them that God can make miracles. And he has. Every year a lifer has been released on a legal technicality. I tell them maybe, this year it will be you.�

Deacon Gazitua said that from the altar he could see some prisoners with tears in their eyes as they saw the archbishop for the first time.

�They connected with the archbishop as he spoke to them,� he said, �as he told the Gospel story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman and how she persisted in her faith and humility when she asked Jesus to cure her daughter. They, too, must persist in faith and humility.�

Deacon Gazitua said that he sees the inmates as men who have made a mistake and who need God�s love.

During the archbishop�s visit, several members of �Rejoice Always,� a St. Louis Parish detention ministry, were on hand. They stood out in their red shirts as they sat among the blue-uniformed prisoners. Both prisoners and ministers sang and waved their hands in the air along with the music of an inmate band. Twice a year the ministers conduct a religious retreat at the facility.

�Besides praise and worship, there�s sharing of their experiences,� said Maria Gutierrez. �It�s therapy when they start sharing. There�s a lot of tears and joy.�