L O C K D O W N !

Dear Friends,

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It's been several weeks now that GBCI has been in emergency lockdown (as you have noticed, perhaps, by the reports from local media outlets). As a result, my colleagues and I who minister to the Catholic population at the maximum security prison on Thursday mornings have been away from work for about five weeks now. No return date [no lifting of the lockdown] has been issued by the Warden. Not only have Father Paul DeMuth, Deacon Jim Gauthier, Deacon Bob Nooker and I been without work for these many weeks, but more importantly, the inmates have also been without Sacramental care for quite a duration of time.

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As I drive by the scene which you see posted above, I can't help but wonder what's up on the inside! (Perhaps the average DePere, Allouez, and Green Bay residents have always wondered what's up as they drive by a place that is pretty mysterious!) All we can say is that it's a pretty serious situation -- and as time goes by, more and more is revealed.

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I'd like to ask for your prayers for the GBCI community. Perhaps asking for prayers for major offenders will offend some of you. After all, I realized on the first day of my ministry there that some people are not all that sympathetic to the needs of the inmates. Nevertheless, Jesus reminds us of the need to respond to ALL people, especially the marginalized when he states, "And I was in prison and you visited me!"

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Towards that end, I ask for your prayers not only for the 1100+ inmates in an 800 capacity prison, but let us pray also for those who tend to their needs, the "blue shirts," the "white shirts" the chaplains, the social workers, the teachers... And let us pray also for a very good man, Warden Bill Pollard, a man who rules like a velvet hammer: blending tough administrative sanctions with a kind, compassionate heart -- a man who truly understands what justice is all about: from a legal perspective as well as a pastoral perspective.

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What happens at the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and Highway 172 is a mystery to many; but as one who has a fledgling understanding of the insides of that place, I can tell you this much: "God's flock is in your midst; give it a shepherd's care!"

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Yours in the Spirit of Saint Patrick!

Father James Baraniak, O. Praem.

O'Praem -- See, We're all Irish Today!