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Ministry for inmates receives $41K grant
By LINDA M. LINONIS
Dismas Ministry, a national Catholic outreach to inmates, has received a $40,700 grant from Catholic Extension to distribute faith-based materials and implement Scripture-study programs in participating prisons and jails.
Dismas Ministry is partnering with the American Bible Society in a one-year pilot program to expand prison-ministry services to 16 Catholic dioceses in Ohio, California, Florida and Texas. Dismas is based in Milwaukee, Wis.
The program specifically focuses on Catholic inmates in the six county jails in Columbiana, Mahoning, Trumbull, Ashtabula, Portage and Stark counties, the area of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, and Northeast Ohio Correctional Center and Ohio State Penitenary, both in Youngstown, and Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut.
Catholic Extension is a Chicago-based organization that has distributed nearly $500 million in American communities to provide religious education and outreach ministries, build and renovate churches and train lay and religious Catholic leaders.
Ron Zeilinger, executive director of Dismas Ministry, said in addition to the original grant, the American Bible Society is donating $13,000 worth of Bibles to the effort. He said the project is in its “initial stage” with Dismas beginning to contact chaplains and prison ministries.
“The program is meant to benefit chaplains, local prison ministries and inmates,” Zeilinger said. “Dismas Ministry exists to supply free faith-based materials.”
Dismas itself takes its name from the “good thief,” who was crucified with Jesus. “We’re about second chances and forgiveness,” Zeilinger said.
In addition to the Bibles that will be distributed, Dismas offers free correspondence courses in Scripture study. These courses, Zeilinger said, delve into the Bible as history, literature and lessons. He said “reflective passages and questions” promote time to “reflect in prayer life.”
Zeilinger also said the materials focus on “what it means to live a moral life based on Scripture.”
Dismas Ministry works with 733 prisons and jails in 43 states; this grant will benefit some 3,700 Catholic inmates in 269 prison facilities in Ohio, California, Florida and Texas. “It’s all about connecting people to people,” Zeilinger said. He added that though the Dismas Ministry is geared to Catholic inmates, other faith groups have used the Bible study materials.
For information on Dismas Ministry, call 414-977-5064 or visit the website at www.dismasministry.org.