Bishop Dennis Walsh says goodbye to Jean Gunn and Tom Gregg, left, after they celebrated Mass with inmates inside the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison Dec. 18. Retired Deacon Robert Gengenbacher, center right, arranged the visit.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
FORT MADISON —Bishop Dennis Walsh and the small group accompanying him proceed through the screening process at the Iowa State Penitentiary. As they exchange their driver’s licenses for their visitor’s badges, a canine handler enters the narrow hallway with a Dutch shepherd. “What’s the dog’s name?” someone in the group asks. “Bishop,” the handler, responds. “A dog named ‘Bishop,’” the religious bishop quips.
ISP Chaplain Darwin Johnson escorts the bishop and his group on their visit one week before Christmas. He guides them outside the visitors’ center of the maximum-security prison for the chilly, five-minute walk to the activity center where Bishop Walsh will celebrate Mass with some of the prison’s inmates. Priests and parishioners in the Diocese of Davenport’s Keokuk Deanery provide ministry here biweekly.
Bishop Walsh passes through another checkpoint, greets the staff and enters the activity center’s library, which serves as a chapel. Inmates have already dressed the altar and set up chairs for Mass. A bookcase spanning the wall behind the altar attracts the bishop’s attention as he greets the small group of inmates in the room. “I’m checking out your library,” he says.
The inmates shake hands with the bishop and exchange warm hugs with the ministry volunteers, Jean Gunn, whom they call “Grandma Jean,” and Tom Gregg, both members of Holy Family Parish in Fort Madison. “They’re my adopted grandsons,” Gunn says with fondness. She has been volunteering at ISP for around 20 years, she estimates.
“Big David,” (the taller of two men with the same first name) assigns readings for Mass to fellow inmates Todd (first reading) and Tayvon (second reading). They are among six or so men who meet every Wednesday afternoon, breaking open the Word. They celebrate Mass with the ministry team biweekly. “We get some good Jesus in whenever we can,” Tayvon says.
A Father’s love
“It’s great to be with you,” Bishop Walsh says after proclaiming the Gospel. “I haven’t been a bishop very long … I come from Ohio, which is very similar to Iowa.” He begins his homily with a story about two neighbors who grew up across the street from each other. When their paths cross years later, each shares how jealous he is of the other — one because he thought his former neighbor had all the good things in life and the other because he thought his former neighbor had the most important thing, his father’s presence. His own father had been too busy to be present.
Bishop Walsh connects the story to the Gospel reading, in which an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph. The angel tells Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary into his home as his wife even though she is pregnant and he is not the father. The angel assures Joseph that “it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:18-25).
Joseph was an exemplary father, even though he “never says a thing in the Bible.” Bishop Walsh praises Joseph’s courageous action, giving up everything for Mary and Jesus. Joseph’s self-sacrificing continues when they must flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s murderous rampage against baby boys in Bethlehem. “Joseph didn’t have to say anything. He demonstrated his love for Jesus Christ in his actions.”
“God loves us so much that he sacrificed everything for us; he sacrificed his own Son,” Bishop Walsh says. He describes a famous icon depicting the Trinity in conversation; Jesus sits in the middle, the Tree of Life (the cross) behind him. The icon conveys the significance of the sacrifice the Father makes for humanity, in union with the son and Holy Spirit. “The father loves you,’” the bishop tells the men. “Take that love the Father has for us (and share it).”
Following the Lord’s Prayer, the men exchange the sign of peace with everyone in the room. Each one receives the Eucharist with gratitude.
Bishop Dennis Walsh leaves the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison Dec. 18 after celebrating Mass with inmates and Tom Gregg and Jean Gunn (pictured here), who minister regularly at the prison.
‘You are not forgotten’
“It’s so nice to have you guys (here),” Todd says, after Mass. “It brings a little light to life. It reminds me there’s good in life.” Speaking to Bishop Walsh, Big David explains how he became the leader of their weekly Scripture study. Although he grew up Catholic, “I had to brush up on my faith,” he says. “I learn something every time.”
He tells the Messenger that the bishop’s homily moved him. “I started thinking about my own family. I got a little emotional,” he says. “I was thinking of my father and mother and just how much I miss them.” They visit their son about every six weeks, and he looks forward to their visits.
“It was a blessing, truly an honor that we were able to come over here (for Mass),” the shorter David says. He also appreciated Bishop Walsh’s homily. “He reflected on how God sent his son to save his beloved creation,” David says. “I hope someday that everyone in the world would realize how much we need God.”
“It’s nice seeing some outside people,” Tayvon says. “That is freedom, having you guys here.”
For Gregg, celebrating the Catholic faith with the men inside ISP is a high point. “It’s so important for the guys to know that God doesn’t just exist outside the walls.” The men appreciate simply having a conversation with someone from the outside.
The bishop’s presence “is really a big deal,” Gregg says. It emphasizes the message, “although you are separated from us, you are not forgotten by us.”
