2024 marks the 50th Jubilee of the Permanent Diaconate here in the Archdiocese of Denver. Through preaching, service, worship and prayer, deacons serve the people of God in unique ways through their various ministries and lives. This article is one of a series of articles the Denver Catholic will publish in 2024, which will feature local deacons and/or a diaconal ministry. There are many Deacon Saints who were martyred for their faith. In this year of Jubilee, the deacons of the Archdiocese of Denver are asking for prayers through the intercession of Saint Euplius of Cantania, deacon and martyr. Learn more about this Deacon Saint here.
At the very darkest point of the year, we celebrate Jesus, the light of the world, becoming man at Christmas. He enters into the human story and brings a profound spirit of hope that changes everything forever.
In the Archdiocese of Denver, some deacons, priests and laypeople are building upon that foundation of hope and extending that very hope to an oft-forgotten population: the prisoner. No matter what they have done to end up in prison, the inmates served by these devoted individuals are still beloved children of the Father, said Deacon Michael Baird, the archdiocesan director of pastoral outreach who oversees ministry in over 20 jails and prisons in Northern Colorado. Because of their inherent, unchanging dignity as sons and daughters, his hope-filled work alongside the other deacons, priests and volunteers is to ensure the prisoners know that they matter.
“Our purpose for going into these jails and prisons is to give them hope,” said Deacon Baird. “We want to be sure that they know they’re not forgotten because they feel forgotten. Depending on their family situation, many are abandoned by their families as soon as they enter jail. They’re very lonely there.
“They still deserve to have hope. They are still redeemed. They still deserve to be loved. And that’s our message going in there,” Deacon Baird continued. “The message we try to give them is that they are still loved. The hope is that they’re not completely abandoned or forgotten. We try to send a message that they are still children of God, that their Father in Heaven loves them deeply and that there are people like us who are praying for them there now. There is hope.”
“Our hope is in Jesus Christ and knowing him as a human being, knowing him as your savior and knowing him well enough to let him walk by your side every day,” added Deacon Steve Vallero, who ministered in jails and prisons for over 20 years. “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and we have great hope in him. He’s the only hope. He is the only way to the Father. He is the only thing that’s going to sustain our happiness. It’s all in him; it’s in the name of Jesus himself. He came to set us free by dying out of great love and mercy for each one of us.”
In the darkness of the jails and prisons in Northern Colorado, these deacons, priests and lay volunteers are bringing the light of Christ to those who need it most and reminding them of their profound dignity as children of the Father. Like the sower in the Scriptures, Deacon Vallero said, they aim to scatter the seeds of the Gospel in the jails and prisons and let God give the growth.
“We are seed scatterers of Jesus’ love, compassion, mercy and hope. Where the seed falls is not up to us. It’s 100% up to the Holy Spirit. We’re just there to be instruments of that love and hopefully to bring that hope into a dark place,” he said.
Often, a small glimmer of hope can be seen in and through their ministry as the inmates they serve encounter the Lord Jesus and are transformed.
One such story recently came via a letter to Deacon Baird’s office. In the letter, a maximum-security inmate expressed deep repentance for his crime. Though he was not Catholic, he remembered attending Mass years ago with a friend, when he was 11 or 12. The feeling of peace he experienced at that Mass stuck with him and led him to reach out to the Church in his time of darkness and need.
“He reached out because he feels that he’s being called back to the Father, and he wants to explore more of this Catholic faith of hope,” Deacon Baird explained. “And so, currently, I have a priest that visits with him at least monthly. He’s going through the RCIA program. Keep in mind that this is someone who will never be outside of prison. He’s in there for life, but he has a soul worthy of saving. I think this is one of the more beautiful stories I’ve come across in terms of knowing your future is behind those walls, those bars, but still having hope and faith in Christ to save him.”
Though prisoners, the inmates that these deacons, priests and lay volunteers serve come to see the liberty Christ offers his children in and through his mercy, forgiveness and hope.
“There are, believe it or not, very devout Catholics in jails and prisons,” Deacon Vallero said. “You wouldn’t think that, maybe because of a societal understanding of what a criminal might look like, but those devout Catholics probably have a tougher road than some of the others because they’re trying to transform their life into lives of virtue and walk away from the vices of their past, and to be a new creation in Christ. So part of the hope of jail and prison ministry is walking with those folks and assisting them.”
This Christmas, the Lord Jesus comes into the world “to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God” (Is 61:1-2). His Incarnation brings profound hope and joy to all God’s children, even those who seem far from him.
As the faithful all over the world prepare to welcome the Savior and his glad tidings this season, Deacon Baird asked for fervent prayer and volunteer support to help bring the Gospel message of hope, redemption and mercy to God’s children behind bars.
“I want people to pray for these men and women. They need your prayers – a conversion of their hearts. Their families need your prayers,” he said, encouraging others to join his mission as committed intercessors. Interested volunteers may also sign up to join the ministry of hope, though the process to get involved is long.
“It’s hard,” Deacon Baird concluded, reflecting on the challenging but beautiful mission of preaching the Gospel in a dark place. “You know, the two big commandments to love God with all your soul, heart, mind and strength – people kind of get that – but then Jesus says, ‘Love thy neighbor.’ That’s harder, much harder. That’s what we’re doing in the jail, in the prison. We’re loving our neighbor and doing our best to give them hope. We play our part, and we let Christ do the rest.”
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