Bishop Olmsted celebrates Easter Mass at Tent City

By Andrew Junker | April 24, 2009 | The Catholic Sun 

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted preached hope and new life on Easter Sunday before dozens of inmates incarcerated at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office controversial Tent City.

The men joined the bishop for a 9 a.m. Mass April 12 in a small yard surrounded by the tents and bunks where the inmates sleep.

During his homily, the bishop encouraged the inmates not to despair and know that the freeing power of the Resurrection reaches those behind bars, too.

Easter “has the same power here as it does outside Tent City,” Bishop Olmsted said. “You cannot chain the word of God.”

The jail sits below a common flight path to the airport, so the din of jet engines would frequently drown out the bishop’s homily. He asked the inmates for their patience and said he was happy to share the Good News with them.

The bishop said that if the story had ended with Jesus’ death, then it could not be called Good News, because it wouldn’t have brought about an end to death.

“If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we’d be the most foolish of people,” Bishop Olmsted said. “But if He really did rise from the dead, then all of history is changed.”

Keith Allard, an inmate at the prison, said he was happy to see the bishop on Easter, but also noted how hard it was to be away from his family.

“All I can do is pray for my family. They’re praying for me,” he said. “I wish I could be with them today.”

Bishop Olmsted acknowledged the disappointment many of the inmates faced.

“I would wager being here on Easter is very difficult for you being away from your families,” he said. “I would encourage you to see this as time to offer the pain and difficulty of that for those you love.”

The bishop is no stranger to celebrating Mass for those incarcerated. He celebrates Easter and Christmas morning with inmates every year.

And for the diocese’s prison ministry, the bishop’s visits are part of a much larger apostolate.

Deacon Peter Murphy, director of prison ministry, described his office as the diocese’s largest parish because they provide 85 services a week in more than a dozen facilities across the Valley.

While some facilities can offer a weekly Mass, usually the ministry provides a Liturgy of the Word with the Eucharist, but whatever the deacons and lay volunteers can provide makes a difference.

The prisoners “appreciate that someone takes time” with them, Deacon Murphy said.

They are entitled to a weekly one-hour service, and many look forward to it days in advance.

“They’re ecstatic,” the deacon said of the prisoners. “They recognize the badges [that prison ministers wear] and know that they’re giving from their own personal time.”

As Bishop Olmsted concluded Mass, he asked the men to pray for him, as he will pray for them.

“We also pray for those we love. We pray for those we didn’t love as we should have. We place them all in God’s hands,” he said. “The risen hands of God can change what we’ve done wrong.”