ROCKFORD—Though the imprisoned in the Rockford Diocese represent just a small portion of the incarcerated people in the U.S., there is still a need for Catholics in jail and prison ministry here.

On Oct. 27, a group of area Catholics gathered at St. Rita Parish in Rockford to learn both about the need for the ministry and the requirements to be a prison minister.

Initial requirements are few.

Father Christian Reuter, OFM, prison ministries coordinator for the Diocese of Belleville, says at ministry fairs, he always invites people to the  “prison table. It’s the express line.”

Among aspects of prison and jail ministry, Father Reuter said, are the obvious — visiting and praying.

“You can make it happen,” said Lou Slapshak, also with the Belleville ministry, “because (that prisoner) is coming back to your community.”

Brian Nelson, a Chicagoan who spent 23 years in solitary confinement in the now-closed, downstate Tamms Correctional Center, talked about his experience.

“I went from being a human being to being nothing,” he said. He got in trouble as a juvenile, he continued. “I’m a 14 year old kid coming out of prison at 46. ... We’re taking children and putting them alone in a box.”

Father Reuter also talked about the history of imprisonment, explaining that nomadic populations had no prisons and medieval dungeons were built primarily to house political prisoners.

Today’s high incarceration rates in the U.S., which has the highest rate in the world, came about when the “whole recipe of law became mathematical.”

Judges, he said, “aren’t judges ... they just read from a book.”

Slapshak talked about the roles of prison and jail ministry — justice advocacy and pastoral care.

In justice advocacy, volunteer ministers help prisoners understand the consequences of their crimes on the community. This is a step toward preparing them to re-enter society.

Pastoral care brings faith and, for Catholics, sacraments to prisoners.

Laura Ortiz, a St. Rita parishioner, talked about the Bible studies she leads, as well as other jail ministry activities  in the area.

Ortiz is chair of the Rockford Reachout Jail Ministry board and coordinator of the Winnebago County Life in Christ Catholic Jail Ministry Team.

Father Howard Barch, director of prison and jail ministry in the Rockford Diocese, in opening remarks, explained Pope Francis visits prisons and jails on nearly every trip he makes.

The pope, he added, will preside at a Holy Year Mass for prisoners Nov. 6.

Father Barch also reminded everyone that Bishop David Malloy of Rockford has also made jail and prison Masses and visits part of his personal ministry.

Dan Campbell, a St. Rita parishioner, is active in the parish’s jail ministry program.

After the talks, he said, “I have no idea why I do this. I don’t think I decided to. (But) people are looking for forgiveness.”

Info: Father Howard Barch, 815/234-7431; Laura Ortiz, 815/262-0206 or email her at laura_ortiz@comcast. net.