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It is nearly one hundred degrees in the gym on a summer Sunday afternoon at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women (MCI-W). Chris Schwartz pauses to drink more water as he gives his reflection on the readings during the Communion service. Thirty women in jeans and gray T-shirts, or pink jumpsuits, listen over the roaring of the two large fans. "I'm soaked by the end," Chris says.
During the school year, the service—or Mass, when a priest is available—is followed by an RCIA class of instruction in the Catholic faith. The card table that served as an altar is taken down, and the chairs rearranged. Last year, the first time Chris offered RCIA, with the help of two other volunteers, ten women signed up. At Easter one was baptized and four confirmed by the bishop. “I was elated,” Chris says. “We’re doing it again this year.”
All God’s Children. Why would Chris, a technology manager for NASA, spend three and a half hours at the prison every Sunday? He gives a simple answer: “I go back because the inmates need me, and I know I can make a difference for them. They are God’s children. Once you get past the prison dress and the missing teeth,…
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