Deacon takes Jesus among state's inmates

Fifteen years ago, Angel Garcia and his wife Catalina, both in their thirties and raising a young family, were handed a ticket at their home in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

His sister, a resident of Brooklyn, had been visiting during a time of great political upheaval in Puerto Rico. Mr. Garcia, a public figure in Ponce, was under pressure from the new regime to change his political viewpoints or resign his government job.

"While my sister was visiting, we had discussions about our family leaving Puerto Rico," Deacon Garcia said. "Suddenly, she handed me transportation tickets to the U.S. A new opportunity suddenly opened up for us. Within one week, my wife and I made the decision to uproot our family, leaving everything else behind. Our lives were changed forever."

He and his wife are now parishioners of St. Patrick's Church in Albany.

Behind bars

Today, Deacon Garcia is a chaplain at the Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie. He is also a leader in the diocesan Residents Encounter Christ (REC) program, through which volunteers enter prisons for weekend retreats.

The past 15 years have not been easy for him and his family, he said, but they made a decision to put their lives in the care of the Holy Spirit, whom they believed would put them where God wanted them to be.

Deacon Garcia admits that he had everything in Puerto Rico: "fame, money, popularity," but "I was one of the lost. Spiritually, I was starving."

Changed by retreat

Deacon Garcia was a popular disc jockey at several radio stations in Puerto Rico, including the station at Ponce's Catholic University. While there, he attended a retreat for men.

"That retreat changed me forever," he said. "Once I had completed it, I knew I wanted to serve God in any way I could."

He became involved with a ministry preparation program. He was preparing to enter the diaconate program, but the family's move to the U.S. waylaid his plans.

Called to diaconate

After he had lived for several years in the Albany Diocese, Deacon Garcia said, some priests and deacons he had met suggested that he apply for the diaconate program.

"I could hardly speak English at the time," he recalled. He knew that if he was accepted, it would very difficult for him. "They had to help me with everything, starting with the application form."

With his wife's support and a lot of prayer, Deacon Garcia entered the diaconate program.

"All along the way, God was with us, and everyone helped. I came to know that this is where God wanted me to serve," he said.

Prison ministry

After Deacon Garcia was ordained in 2000 by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, he met Rev. James Hayes (who recently died). Years earlier, the priest, who worked in prison ministry, had started the REC ministry at Great Meadows Correctional Facility in Comstock.

Father Hayes told the new deacon he would be a good minister to prisoners "because I could speak Spanish, like many of them," Deacon Garcia recalled. "I didn't want to do [prison ministry] but told him I would pray about it. Right up until I went in, I didn't want to do that."

Deacon Garcia has been a REC minister ever since. Through his efforts and those of other chaplains and volunteers, he said, "the inmates learn about sin and morality and the values of truth and honesty. We analyze the Ten Commandments, the Christian virtues and the way the Church applies these values today."

Lessons

Deacon Garcia has been a chaplain at the Greene Correctional Facility for four years.

"I have found that the greatest 'illness' of the inmate is loneliness," he said. "Many of them do not know what a normal family is. This is so needed by the young men in particular -- to see Church as family, to know they have not been forgotten by the world.

"I would love to see more Spanish-speaking volunteers in our REC ministry. One of my goals is to break the barriers of separation between the inmates and the prison staff. The inmates are often punished excessively by the staff, and become buried under a mountain of shame and guilt. Most of them are already very angry. In the prisons, there is a huge abyss between the staff and the inmates.

"We use the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and examples of Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton to help them understand and experience the liberation that comes from turning fear into peace, enemies into friends. The only solution is love and understanding."

(Residents Encounter Christ is a three-day retreat weekend during which inmates experience the message of Christ through music, discussions, prayer, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and counseling.)

(12/2/04)