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PEOPLE of GOD
August 2020
Go Forth Without Fear: Prison Ministry in the time of COVID-19 By Deacon Robert Vigil, Director, Pastoral Outreach
During this time of pandemic isolation, I often think of the Bernalillo County Jail, one of the many detention facilities within the boundaries of New Mexico. As Director of Pastoral Outreach for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, I am graced to minister to the incarcerated there, in addition to other detention centers, with a handful of volunteers. There is a visit that stays in my memory — one I can remember as though it was yesterday. I was walking a corridor there, one that felt a mile long, housing men and women of many tongues in units, pods, and cells. I was distributing the Eucharist and was done for the day.
Walking back to the locker room, there was a man in shackles with four guards around him, passing me. He hollered out, “Good morning, Deacon! I would like to receive the body of Christ.” The guards brought him over to me and I was speechless; I explained that I was out of Eucharist. He smiled at me and asked if I could pray with him as he knelt in front of me. As I held the ciborium, he asked if I could uncover it. He smiled from ear to ear, he licked the tip of a finger in handcuffs, and used it to pick up a crumb. He asked me to pray with him and, before he consumed, he prayed, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive
