by Moira Cullings
moira.cullings@theleaven.org
TOPEKA — This October, a team of volunteers will bring something invaluable to women at the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF).
“As you can imagine, there’s an element of hope that’s usually missing when you visit with some of these folks,” said Deacon Tim Ruoff of Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Topeka.
“We want to bring that hope,” he continued. “We want to be that light and to help them find that joy that may be missing in their life.”
A Kolbe Prison Ministries retreat will be offered at TCF, the only women’s prison in Kansas, for the first time from Oct. 18-20. Organizers hope up to 40 to 50 residents will attend.
Deacon Ruoff will be the spiritual director. Women from multiple states who volunteer with Kolbe Prison Ministries will travel to Topeka to help local volunteers lead the retreat.
In the coming year, the group hopes to build a team of local volunteers who will be able to lead Kolbe retreats at prisons in Kansas entirely on its own.
Those interested in joining the volunteer team, signing up to pray for a retreat, donating financially to support the retreats or staying in touch through an email list can go online to: kolberetreatsinkansas.org/volunteer.
“We’re hoping that the Holy Spirit will touch some hearts in the future and allow us to build our team locally,” said Diane Reinhart, a parishioner at St. Mary-St. Anthony Church in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas codirector of the TCF retreat.
“The intent is to present our ministry, our beautiful Catholic faith, to the women at TCF and open their eyes to the Lord,” she added.
The role of those who volunteer to lead a Kolbe retreat is simple.
“Our job is not to judge,” said Reinhart. “[The residents have] already been judged by the justice system.
“Our job is just to love them and to show them God loves them and that there’s nothing they can do that’s going to make God love them less.
“He has been there the whole time for them.”
Kolbe Prison Ministries is based in Texas. Its three-day retreats have been held at facilities in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
Participants sit at a table with other residents and volunteers, building a small group community over the weekend.
They listen to witness talks given by laypeople and participate in discussions.
They also learn more about the sacraments and traditions of the Catholic faith and have the opportunity to attend Mass, participate in eucharistic adoration, pray the rosary and receive the sacrament of reconciliation.
Women of all faith backgrounds are invited to attend the retreat at TCF.
“Our intent with the Kolbe retreat is not to convert all these folks into the Catholic Church,” said Deacon Ruoff. “It’s to help them encounter Christ in a deeper way.
“And along that journey, we’re going to share with them what we believe in the church, and not just what we believe but why we believe it.”
If women are interested in learning more about Catholicism, a faith formation team of volunteers like Reinhart visits the prison three times a week.
Deacon Ruoff attended the first Kolbe Ministries Retreat in Kansas in June. Held at the Lansing Correctional Facility, the retreat had a profound impact on the men there, and Deacon Ruoff hopes the TCF experience will be the same.
His own experience in prison ministry over the past decade, and as the Catholic liaison for TCF the past four years, has been life-changing.
“There’s times where I walk away from that facility thinking that the women there have ministered to me more than I have ministered to them,” he said.
“They’re incredibly faithful, they are so happy to see us, they’re a joy to be around and they are so hungry to grow in their faith, to learn more and especially to receive the Eucharist,” he added.
Reinhart said every woman at TCF has a story, and many of them feel ostracized and hopeless.
“The prison is a hard place to maintain your zeal when you’re inside,” she said. “There’s a lot that will try to beat you down and take your joy and make you want to be hopeless.
“Our job is to revitalize them.”
She believes the three-day retreat will do just that.
“That is going to be a beautiful experience,” she said, “because one hour will build on another hour.
“And they’ll come out changed. That’s our hope.”
To learn more about Kolbe Prison Ministries in Kansas, visit the website at: kolberetreatsinkansas.org.
