Christmas came early for inmates at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, a state correctional facility for female prisoners located in Marysville.
Bishop Earl Fernandes visited the prison on Monday, Dec. 23 to celebrate a Christmas Mass.
In attendance were Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine; First Lady Fran DeWine, Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, and members attending on behalf of the state government.
The bishop celebrated a Mass for inmates at Chillicothe Correctional Institution days before on Dec. 20.
Approximately 60 women incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women attended the Mass on Dec. 23.
Bishop Fernandes offered an opportunity for confession before Mass. Several women came forward to receive the sacrament.
In his homily, Bishop Fernandes assured them that they are not alone.
“That’s one thing I want to tell all of you: God has not forgotten you,” he said. “He sees you, and He loves you, and His mercy is for you, and He gives His Son for you.
“Sometimes we feel like we are the forgotten people in the world, that nobody knows us, nobody loves us, nobody cares about us. We feel discarded. I’m here to say that you matter. You matter to me; you matter to God, and you are not forgotten.
“I think about our gospel. To whom did Christ first reveal His Sacred Face? To His mother, Mary, a lowly handmaiden, with St. Joseph, a simple carpenter – not to the great and mighty of the world but to the meek and lowly.”
Joining the bishop in the celebration of the Mass were Father Joseph Trapp, who serves as a chaplain at the facility and pastor at Plain City St. Joseph Church; Deacon Kevin Girardi, who is anticipated to be ordained to the priesthood in the spring; and seminarians Miguel De La Torre, Shane Gerrity and Zachary Goodchild.
Several inmates served as lectors, cantors, read the petitions and assisted during Mass.
Bishop Fernandes also reflected on the coming Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope,” taking place in 2025. The Holy Father opened the Jubilee Year, which is typically celebrated in the Church every 25 years, on Christmas Eve in Rome.
The bishop reminded the women that the Jubilee is a special year of God’s grace and mercy.
“Emmanuel means ‘God is with us,’ and I think that is the most important thing that we should remember, is that we are never alone. And all of us, regardless if we work for the government or the Church or you who are here – those who work as correctional officers here – we are all pilgrims of hope,” he said.
Michele Williams, one of the incarcerated women, was grateful to celebrate a Christmas Mass with the bishop.
“It was an incredible honor to have him here,” she said. “His reminder to us about, we matter, is what impacted me the most because, being here for so long, you don’t think you matter anymore, and him making the effort and asking Governor DeWine and First Lady DeWine, and all the central office people, they made the effort, and they proved that we matter, and that was very important to me.”
Williams provided music for the Mass. She played the piano, which, she said, is self-taught during her time at the reformatory, and served as a cantor. She described playing music for Mass as her gift to God.
“I feel a lot like the little drummer boy,” she said. “I don’t have many gifts. I play the piano and I sing, and my voice gets shaky and my heart jumps in my throat, but it’s my best, and it’s my only offering that I have. We can’t do much else here.
“And so, just like the little drummer boy, when he said, ‘Shall I play for you?’ and Mary nodded, I saw the bishop nod, and I saw Governor DeWine and his wife look, and I said, ‘I’m going to play.’ But it was bigger than that. It was playing for Jesus. It was my best offering that I could possibly give.”
Alice Lundgren, also incarcerated at the correctional facility, also expressed gratitude for the bishop’s visit.
Although Bishop Fernandes has celebrated Mass at the facility before, Lundgren said his presence again this year was a reminder that the women are on his heart and in his thoughts and prayers. She said it is empowering and fills her with hope.
“Often times when we’re sentenced to prison, in the beginning, our family and loved ones make effort to spend time with us, and as time passes, life happens, and we find ourselves often alone at the holidays, so, to have that kind of effort and dedication as a gift to us is so overwhelming,” she said.
“I hardly have words to express that, to know that behind the scenes so much work went into today to make it possible for us to spend one hour in the presence of the Lord in a room full of so many different people, and yet, we are all the same in the eyes of God.”
Lundgren converted to the Catholic faith in 2017 in prison.
She said she came into the Church because the Catholic faith felt most “at home.” This year’s Christmas Mass celebration was a reminder of why she converted.
“Today was one of those experiences where I felt very much at home,” she said. “It was almost as good as my mother’s living room, in regard to the amount of love that was emanating from everywhere, and it just doesn’t hardly get much better than that.
“Today was one of those beyond imagination days. To sit in that room and to share with the seminarians and with the bishop and with the beautiful music and with government officials and institutional staff, that was almost beyond words to really express what that means to somebody dressed like me.”
Pam Henry, who attended this year’s Christmas Mass, also converted to Catholicism during her time at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. She was Baptist when she entered the facility, she said, and later converted to the Catholic faith in 2008.
Women at the facility have an opportunity to attend Mass every Thursday. For Henry, receiving the Eucharist means a lot.
“Church is very important to a lot of us here,” she said. “It keeps us grounded. Me, it keeps me grounded and hopeful, joyful. My light just shines on Thursday mornings. I get to go to church. I get to go to rosary.”
Participating in a Christmas Mass celebrated by the bishop was especially meaningful. Adriana Guitierrez Santana, who also attended this year, described the Mass as “a moment of joy.”
“I can’t wait to go back and tell everybody what just happened,” she said.
For Guitierrez Santana, the Mass was a reminder of how much God loves her. She was especially excited to participate in a Mass celebrated by the bishop.
“I can’t believe that he chose to come to prison,” she said. “He could be anywhere. He could be any fancy place with fancy people – wherever – and he chose to come to celebrate Mass with inmates. That’s amazing because he’s seen behind the title of ‘inmates.’
“I’m so grateful that he came and spent time with us, that he does not see us for a number, crime or anything else. He sees behind the stigma, the title. He’s seeing the soul, the child of God – that is just amazing.”
Guitierrez Santa added that the Mass will impact not only her but those around her.
She said other people can tell when things are going well for her. She expected that the joy she carries from the Christmas Mass will be noticed.
“You cannot deny when you have faith or when you have hope or when you get blessings,” she said.
After Mass, a reception with Christmas cookies and coffee was offered for inmates to partake with the bishop, clergy, staff and other attendees.
