Volunteer in prison ministry reflects on rewarding service

YOUNGSTOWN — Anthony “Tony” Kobak acknowledged he never thought of serving as a volunteer chaplain in prison ministry until he experienced his own religious conversion.

It wasn’t a conversion to a religion, but a conversion in how he perceived his own faith.

Kobak will discuss his path to this corporal work of mercy in a series of talks this month at churches in the Diocese of Youngstown in hopes of interesting more volunteers. “There is a need,” he said.

Though he attended parochial school and has “been Catholic my whole life,” Kobak said he went to church Sunday and that was about it. “Volunteering in the church was something my grandmother did,” he said. “I was younger and too busy with other stuff ... life.”

Something he did in his family life about seven years ago changed his perspective. Kobak recalled he was always the last one to go to bed at night, turning off the lights and locking the doors. “In the quiet time, I would look at my daughters’ first- and second-grade homework in religion,” he said. The girls then attended Holy Family School; the family belonged to the church but now are members of St. Columba Cathedral.

“Over months, I saw what they were studying in religion ... like the 10 Commandments and why Jesus died. I was learning myself and remembering ... in the still of the night.”

It wasn’t an “a-ha” moment but rather a quiet and slow realization, Kobak said, adding, “Jesus died for me ... what does that mean to me and what am I called to do?”

For the complete story, read Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com