Embracing Faith
Bishop confers Confirmation on youths in Hunterdon County correctional facility
By Carolyn Hughes
Correspondent
The Old Testament
prophecy of Isaiah (61:1) promising a Messiah who
would “proclaim liberty to
the captives and release to the
prisoners” took on a personal
meaning for seven young
men who were confirmed
Nov. 1 by Bishop Paul G.
Bootkoski in the chapel in
Mountainview Youth Correctional
Facility, Annandale.
Concelebrating the Mass during which the bishop conferred Confirmation were four of the six priests who regularly offer Mass or hear Confessions at the prison: Father Robert G. Gorman, pastor, Holy Spirit Parish, Perth Amboy; Father J. William Mickiewicz, pastor, St. John Neumann Parish, Califon; Father Leonard F. Rusay, pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Whitehouse Station, and Father Thomas J. Serafin, pastor, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Three Bridges. Father Joseph D. Kraus, assistant to the bishop, also concelebrated.
According to Deacon John F. Dumschat of St. Patrick Parish, Belvidere, full time chaplain at Mountainview who prepared the candidates, Father Andrew L. Szaroleta pastor, Immaculate Conception Parish, Clinton, and Father Maurice T. Carlton, administrator, St. Joseph Parish, High Bridge, also serve at Mountainview but were not able to attend that day.
The candidates listened intently as Bishop Bootkoski welcomed them and a full house of fellow inmates. The bishop told the candidates, “We come here for you because we think you are worth it. You really are. And you have something to give to society, to your families and loved ones, and something to do with your life.”
He suggested that the young men use this time of incarceration to discern God’s will in their lives through people he puts in their paths, through prayer and through worship. “God will speak to you . . . and you will realize your worth,” he said.
“Every one of us is a chosen person of God. He creates good, wonderful people,” Bishop Bootkoski said, and he asks for a response. The bishop suggested a “homework” assignment: that the men wake up every morning and ask God, “What do you want me to do with my life?”
Noting that most of the men will be called to the Sacrament of marriage, the bishop challenged the men to consider the priesthood, too. “If you like working with people and you really love God and want to help God become part of people’s lives, through good times and bad, who knows, maybe that call is there, too.”
Before anointing each candidate with sacred chrism, the bishop asked the men to be as “receptive as possible” to the gift of the Holy Spirit, praying, “Lord, fill me with your Spirit. Help me to be the best I can be.”
After Mass and rounds of congratulations, the newly confirmed spoke with The Catholic Spirit.
William Bielefeldt, who took the Confirmation name “Anthony”, said,“ I think this will be a new beginning for my life. I will start living my life in God and think before I do things.”
Leedee Wah, whose Confirmation name was “Nicholas”, stated that he “just grew up Catholic” but believes that he was confirmed now “because I finally started to go back to church.”
Jason DeMatteo, also a cradle Catholic, stated that he has “had enough with doing the wrong thing.” Instead, he said,“I might as well do the right thing.”
Abraham Castro was grateful to God and to Deacon Dumschat for all that Castro has learned during his journey toward Confirmation. “God has taught me to be patient, and I learned how to read the Bible, how to pray directly to him and mostly I learned how to honor myself like he says in the Bible,” Castro said.
Castro, along with several others, also received First Eucharist in Mountainview. “I am really, really proud about it. I didn’t want to leave without having (the Sacraments),” he said. He went home Nov. 3.
“I feel good,” Matthew Pisciotto said. “I feel pretty much that I have reached a high point in my life. It’s time to focus on the future and not on the past.”
Manuel Ramirez commented that“God works in mysterious ways” as he thought about his own life. “When I was on the streets I was unable to do Communion and Confirmation. I went through many tribulations,” he said. “I got to do it here and I feel very good that I did it.” Ramirez took the name “Emmanuel” as his Confirmation name.
Deacon Dumschat explained that after working with some of the men for more than a year, “you get close to them. I feel very strongly about them.” Deacon Dumschat stood as sponsor for five of the men, and was “very proud” of them all.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law