CREST HAVEN – The eighth bishop of the Diocese of Camden was the first to celebrate Mass with seven male inmates in the Cape May County Correctional Center Dec. 4. He made similar visits to other correctional facilities in the South Jersey diocese, this being his eighth. He hopes to make the visits annual events.
Attired in purple clerical garments, the color of Advent in preparation for Christmas, carrying his crosier, which resembles a shepherd’s staff, and wearing his mitre, the symbol of a bishop’s office, the Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan first shook hands with each inmate and greeted them by name. Seated, they wore orange jumpsuits with Cape May County Jail stenciled on the back of each, and were under a guard’s watchful eye.
The impromptu altar was a table in the center’s recreation room where other religious services are held, according to Sheriff Gary Schaffer.
Rev. Michael Romano, bishop’s secretary, prepared the elements of communion; he placed a small crucifix in the center of the table over a white linen cloth, then poured water and wine from clear bottles into a gold chalice and arranged communion wafers on the gold paten, which the bishop used to celebrate the Mass.
Asked if the visit was prompted by Pope Francis’ visit to prisons, Sullivan replied it was not. Instead, since he arrived in the diocese Feb. 12, 2013, he sought a way to reach out with a prison ministry. As if by divine intervention, Sister Mary Lou Lafferty, who had retired, was still desirous of serving the Church. Sullivan smiled as he added the prison ministry had found its coordinator in her.
She was in attendance at the Mass, as was Deacon Charlie Tobin, Barb Richards of the Legion of Mary from St. John Neuman Parish, North Cape May, Joe and Eleanor Lang of the Legion of Mary from St. Damian Parish, St. Augustine Church, Ocean City, John Cogan of St. Damian Parish, Kisanna Owens of Catholic Charities Reentry Program and Monsignor John Frey of St. Brendan the Navigator Parish, Avalon.
Sullivan’s homily focused on Jesus’ healing of two blind men. He recalled their faith that Christ could heal them, and said, “Let us prepare our hearts” to allow Christ to “Come, be with me, touch me, let me have vision. They brought faith, but He asked, ‘Do you believe?’ Christ can bring light into your life.”
The inmates joined the celebration by singing hymns from a printed brochure, offering peace to each other in preparation to receive the wafer that was blessed in the Mass. Sullivan went to each, recited their names, and gave them communion.
When Mass ended, Sullivan again donned mitre and crosier, and blessed all in the room.
Then, as ever under a guard’s watchful gaze, the seven inmates rose and exited the room, back to their cells to contemplate Bishop Sullivan’s words.
Cumberland County Correctional Center will be Sullivan’s next and last visit before resuming the cycle of prison Masses.
According to the diocesan website, Sullivan is a native of Bronx, N.Y. He was ordained a priest in 1971 in the Archdiocese of New York. In 2004, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese, and served as vicar general for eight years under the late Edward Cardinal Egan and Timothy Cardinal Dolan.
Before becoming a bishop, he served in parish ministry as pastor of Ss. John and Paul Church, Larchmont, 2002-04, and St. Teresa in Manhattan, 1982-2002.
Sullivan also served as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Elizabeth, Manhattan; Ascension, Manhattan, and Ss. Philip and James, the Bronx, from 1971 to 1981. In 1999 he was named a Prelate of Honor to His Holiness.
Sullivan has long served in pastoral ministry to immigrants. In 1969 he attended the Summer Spanish Language Institute at the Catholic University in Ponce, Puerto Rico. After ordination in 1971, he was assigned to the Dominican Republic to continue Spanish language studies and culture in preparation for assisting the growing number of Dominicans in New York. While pastor at St. Teresa’s in Manhattan, Sullivan ministered to Chinese immigrants.
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