IAABO Citizen of the Month: BillyMac!
 

As a member of IAABO I am proud to announce that our very own BillyMac of Connecticut has been named IAABO's Citizen of the Month for January 2020.


Billy has been part of The Saint Dominic Church (Southington, CT) Prison Ministry since early 2019. He is one of a dozen members, who on a rotating schedule, have three members of Prison Ministry visit inmates at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution in Somers, CT every Monday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Ministry members meet with several inmates during a Catholic Faith Sharing session. The Prison Ministry focuses on the readings, including the Gospel, from the Sunday mass prior to the visit. Ministry members and inmates have the opportunity to pray together, read the readings, and discuss reflection questions. Ministry members are all grateful for the opportunity to share their Catholic faith with the inmates, truly embracing the spirit of the Corporal Work of Mercy, “I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:36).


Well done Billy!


MTD, Sr.

That's good and needed work Billy!!!

Finally Got Caught ...
 

Officials always look at me funny when I'm asked where I'm working Monday night and I respond, "I don't have a game, I'm going to prison".

One thing I've learned, don't wear khaki pants to visit a prison where all the inmates wear khaki when the visit occurs during corrections officers shift changes. I almost had to spend the night there.

(Thanks Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.)

Congrats Billy. I am sure it is very well deserved.

Peace

Red Tape ...
 

Thanks. Credit should go to the guys who started this Ministry two years before I joined. Between the Connecticut Department of Corrections and the Archdiocese there was enough red tape to fill a forty-foot shipping container. Even now three years later, it takes up to six months to get new Ministry members approved (fingerprints, criminal background check, references, etc.).

Hahahahahahaha.
I mean, I get it, but the idea of having to pass a criminal background check to go to a prison...

My better half is HR for a construction company that does epoxy flooring, and they get a lot of contracts for jails and prisons. They've had more than one employee get in trouble for engaging in contraband transport.

Contraband ...
 

Once we gave away plastic rosary beads to the inmates in our Faith Sharing Group. The rosary beads eventually ended up being used as gang symbols.

The Department of Corrections almost shut down our Ministry due to our transgression.

It's a whole different world "inside".

Black. White. No gray.

Congrats and maz'l tov, Billy.

Torah ...
 

Thanks, and yes, we do cover Old Testament readings.