8 hours Ago By Roxane B. Salonen
FARGO — If he were driven solely by pleasure, Andrzej Noyszewski wouldn’t be spending several Sunday afternoons each month in a jail. “Now, at 1 p.m.
, it’s starting to be beautiful outside, and I have to go to jail?” he said, reflecting on his time at Cass County Jail ministering to the incarcerated. And yet, both he and his wife, Lynette, who shares in the ministry, admit that it fills the soul. “I personally always feel kind on a high when I leave,” Lynette said.
“Even if there’s just one person in the group who was open and engaged with us, it’s worth it.” Andrzej agreed. “It’s hard to go, but after that one hour, every single time I’ve been very happy — even joyful and elevated.
” They’re two of only eight Catholic volunteers, of the 80 Christian ministers over all, who bring their love of God to within the jail walls. While the Jail Chaplains program comprises the largest outreach locally, the Catholic services element brings a distinct perspective to the inmates. “We have about 50 hours per week of inmate programming,” said Sergeant Ben Schwandt, program administrator, noting that the Catholic team, led by Fr.
Gerard Braun, meets with inmates who request confession, a Catholic Bible, a priest visit, or who just have questions about the faith. Schwandt said the jail is grateful to offer such a robust, nationally recognized outreach to address the spiritual needs of the inmates, including Catholics. That portion is not only well-attended, but “a good partnership all the way around, with great benefit,” he said, emphasizing, “We don’t want to be a warehouse.
We want to rehabilitate (the incarcerated) as best we can, so we make every effort to do that.” Schwandt noted that the volunteers are all people with “big hearts” with a passionate desire to work with the inmates to help them better their lives. Fr.
Braun was assigned to St. Anthony’s parish in Fargo shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time the ministry had paused. “Someone approached me, asking if I’d be interested in picking up where Fr.
Courtright had left off," he said. "He’d been working with the Catholic side of jail ministry.” Andrzej and Lynette, St.
Mary’s Cathedral parishioners, were among those who showed up at an introductory meeting advertised in area parish bulletins. The group then met with Schwandt, who “laid out the parameters” and helped them become approved to meet with inmates, Braun said, with assistance from Susan Askegaard, who handles scheduling. “We visit five Sundays in a row,” Braun said, alternating meetings with men and women.
“Everybody gets two shots at it a month.” They gather in a classroom for an informal Bible study focused on the current Scripture readings. “We invite them to share their thoughts and reflections, and close in prayer,” he said.
The hour-long sessions, Braun said, average 15 to 20 men, and five to 15 women. Andrzej and Lynette, working as a team, meet only with women. “I’d had a desire to do jail ministry for quite some time,” Lynette said, noting that, as a barber 20 years ago, she discovered how much faith discussions with clients fueled her.
But she was surprised to learn her husband had the same yearning, she said. Andrzej said approaching the women together has had an unexpected, positive effect. “Many times, the women have been in troubled, unstable relationships, and being a married couple has turned out to be a good witness for marriage and friendship for them,” he said.
They don’t preach, but rather seek to find out where the women are coming from and answer questions they might have, often inspired by the Scripture readings. “Maybe they have a question about baptism, or purgatory, or ‘Who is God?’” he said, noting that topics like witchcraft and how the church views it have also come up. Andrzej said he’s often been surprised at the depth of the inmates’ understanding of, and closeness with, God, because of their suffering.
“I think when you’re in a darker situation,” Lynette added, “it’s sometimes easier to see Jesus. He shines so much brighter.” Most have a sense of having done something wrong, he said, and understand their time in jail can be restorative, with Lynette adding that some lack a depth of faith because they’ve just never been exposed to it.
“My impression is that, often, the understanding of Christianity is mixed with other spiritualities — ideas they’ve picked up from, say, TV,” Andrzej said. “The conversations allow us to explain or clarify those misconceptions.” Once, while talking about nuns, an inmate expressed fear, he said, because she’d only been exposed to a nun through a horror film.
Though not all inmates are Catholic, the volunteers make it clear they speak from that perspective. “We are not there arguing about dogmas and principles,” Andrzej said, “But, for example, I will explain what the Eucharist is versus what they might think it is.” Ultimately, they want to help lead them closer to understanding who God is, he said, and helping them realize that they can get out from the places in which they’ve found themselves with faith.
For those struggling with addiction, Lynette said, they might teach them a simple prayer, such as, “Jesus, I trust in you,” to break addictive thoughts. The simple act of making the sign of the cross can also be a helpful tool, Andrzej said. “You are acknowledging the presence of the Trinity, you remove evil from your surroundings, and it can be done anytime.
” Some inmates have been touched to tears just by hearing that God loves them, Andrzej said. “We try to have that empathetic heart,” Lynette offered. “And we make things light with laughter, which really opens them up.
” In the end, the ministry has helped remind them of their shared humanity with inmates. “It’s just part of life that we’re going to go through troubles,” Lynette said, adding that most have loved the quote, often attributed to St. Augustine: “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
” “We just try to fill that space in their life that is empty,” she said, “not with something but someone: Jesus, who is their savior.” Unlike the larger Jail Chaplains ministry, Braun said, the Catholic component has no paid employees. His main objective is to encourage the inmates to seek hope through faith.
“God isn’t a God of wrath wanting to punish them,” he said. “Choices lead to consequences, but God wants us to live freely. He wants to call them out of darkness.
” He referenced Matthew 25:41, in which Jesus said, “I was imprisoned, and you showed me compassion,” for the impetus behind the efforts, noting Jesus’ words: “Whatever you did to the least of these, that you did onto me.” The Catholic Church names visiting the imprisoned as one of the seven corporal works of mercy, he said, adding, “The heart of it is compassion, ‘to suffer with,’” and that, as jail-ministry volunteers, “(God) is trying to call us out of our own self-serving ways to look at the needs of others.” Braun said anyone who feels a call on their heart for this kind of ministry can get in touch with him through St.
Anthony’s parish in Fargo. The team is planning another organizational meeting to bring in new volunteers later this month..
