IMAGE: CNS photo/John Shaughnessy, The Criterion
By John Shaughnessy
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — There are
times when nearly everyone seeks redemption for a mistake or a moment of
darkness, times that can help find a way to return to the grace of God.
For Opal Williams and Marguerite
Engle, a significant step in that journey occurred the evening of March 4 in
the chapel of the Indiana
Women’s Prison in Indianapolis.
There, Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson
baptized and confirmed the two inmates and later gave them their first
Communion as he celebrated Mass and their new life in Christ.
Archbishop Thompson focused on that
new life during his homily. He shared with the two women and their fellow
inmates the message that Pope Francis once delivered during a visit with
prisoners in Bolivia.
“When Jesus becomes part of our
lives, we can no longer remain imprisoned by our past,” he said, quoting the
pope. “Instead, we begin to look to the present, and we see it
differently, with a different kind of hope. We begin to see ourselves and our
lives in a different light. We are no longer stuck in the past, but capable of
shedding tears and finding in them the strength to make a new start.”
Turning to Williams and Engle,
Archbishop Thompson told them, “So that’s what Lent is all about: the
strength to make a new start. It’s a new beginning, celebrating our identity in
Christ as God’s children, as God’s family.
“And we celebrate that today in
a special way as you are received into the family of the Catholic Church,
walking in this new light, this new hope, this new joy of putting on Christ and
knowing Christ.”
For both women, their new beginning
was marked with emotion, from flashing glowing smiles to wiping away tears of
joy, all with the belief that they had finally found a home in the church that
God had always intended for them.
“This means a lot to me,”
Williams said before Mass. “I was adopted, but my biological grandmother
was Catholic, and I remember going to church with her. I feel in my heart that
I’ve been meant to be Catholic, and I’m following in her footsteps. I feel like
this is what God and her really wanted me to do.”
Engle shared a similar conviction of
being at home in the church.
“I’ve always turned to the
Catholic Church when there was trouble in my life and I needed answers,”
she said. “I’ve fasted and prayed. I wanted to learn as much as I could
before I made a decision to become part of the church.
“Believing in God and Jesus
Christ brings me closer to heaven. It’s my salvation. It means I’ll be saved.
It means I’ll be released from everything I’ve experienced so far. I have
forgiveness for my sins. I will have a future.”
Such a journey toward the future
comes with the help of Indianapolis-area Catholics who volunteer in prison
ministry weekly at the women’s facility.
Ann Tully of St. Matthew the Apostle Parish served as Engle’s
sponsor, while Andrea Wolsifer of St. Anthony Parish was Williams’ sponsor.
“When they learned they were
able to come into the church, they were overjoyed,” Tully told The Criterion,
newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese. “They’ve been working hard and
studying hard. It’s an amazing journey for them. Everything is new and
beautiful to them. They really have embraced the Catholic tradition and faith.”
At times during the evening, the
smiles of Engle and Williams were matched by Wolsifer, who led the two women
through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults to enter the church.
“This means everything to
them,” Wolsifer said. “They’ve been wanting to come into the church
since they started RCIA. And they’re interested in ongoing learning about the
Catholic faith.”
After the Mass, Archbishop Thompson
reflected on the joy and the faith of Engle and Williams he witnessed during the
rituals and reception of the sacraments.
“The fact that these two ladies
want to be received into the church tonight shows the faith is alive here,”
he said. “Their own journey, their own challenges — whatever things in
their life have caused them to be here — they have not lost faith, they have
not lost their sense of being created in the image of God and being loved by
God.”
The archbishop spent considerable time
after Mass answering questions from other inmates. He also spoke with them
informally in groups and individually, consoling and blessing one woman who
shared a painful reality with him.
“These are the ones that Pope
Francis reminds us are on the margins, on the peripheries, that society tends
to want to brush aside or forget,” said the archbishop, who has made
personal visits and prison ministry a priority during his time in Indiana. “We
have to remember that Christ is present here, and remember the goodness and
dignity of every person.”
–
– –
Shaughnessy is assistant editor of The
Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
– – –
Copyright © 2018 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
