 |
|
|
New priest gets stole of many colors
By Julie Filby
 |
| Photo by James Baca/DCR Father Dennis Garrou teaches a Bible study class to inmates at the Jefferson County Detention Center June 7. |
Last Tuesday afternoon six men filtered into a room, chairs and Bibles in hand to form a circle around Father Dennis Garrou for afternoon Bible study. The participants all wore mustard-colored uniforms with “JCSO Jail” printed on the back of their shirts and “JCSO” down the side of their pants.
Father Garrou, parochial vicar at Christ the King in Evergreen, was ordained to the priesthood May 21. He has ministered at the Jefferson County Detention Center in Golden for eight years, the last six as full-time chaplain.
“I see that every inmate has access to his or her faith practice group, whether through our staff of volunteers or through outside professional clergy visitors,” he told the Denver Catholic Register from his office at the jail, which he referred to as “The Office of Eternal Affairs” with a laugh.
Father Garrou coordinates 55 programs each week through the chaplaincy office including Catholic Communion services, semi-monthly confessions, RCIA classes, Bible studies, a video introduction to Christianity called the ALPHA Course, a Christian 12-step program Celebrate Recovery, and Protestant services.
“I’m responsible to recruit, train, schedule and supervise the volunteer staff,” he said, adding that there are currently 125 volunteers including approximately 20 Catholics.
To celebrate his recent ordination one of the volunteers, Susan Swerling, a parishioner of Our Lady of the Pines in Conifer, presented Father Garrou with a unique gift: a stole made of swatches of cloth from old inmate uniforms. Jail administration made the material available to Swerling for the stole.
“The stole is significant to me because it blends my priestly ministry with the chaplaincy ministry, and the individuals whom God has touched at the jail,” he said.
Along the side of the stole are the words “Hear Us O Lord.”
“As I pray at the altar and offer ‘a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving’ I also offer up to our Lord the needs and cries of the inmates that the volunteers and I serve,” said Father Garrou who wears the stole not only at jail liturgies but at the parish as well.
The colors of the stole—red, orange, yellow, gray, white and blues—represent different classification of inmates such as maximum, medium or minimum security; and different modules, or housing units where they reside, based on gender and whether they are pretrial or have been sentenced.
At this Jefferson County facility, run by the county sheriff’s office, approximately two-thirds of the population is awaiting trial, while one-third has been sentenced; most for two years or less. Differing from a prison, where all inmates have been sentenced, generally for a lengthier term.
Father Garrou, along with the volunteers, reaches hundreds of inmates each month.
“Each month inmate chapel attendance is approximately 1,100 inmates,” he said. “About 1,000 attend our various religious education classes; and another 1,300 or so request either religious materials, or visits for prayer or spiritual assistance.”
The jail maintains a library of spiritual reading available to keep or check out.
As the men gathered June 7 for Father Garrou’s afternoon Bible study, they were eager to recognize his service to the jail and to them personally.
“Other inmates and people on the outside frown on this ministry,” said one young man. “The Lord didn’t come just to save the righteous, but the unrighteous.”
Another man, who said he’d attended the Bible study longer than anyone in the group, praised the teaching style of Father Garrou.
“He’s a good teacher,” he shared. “I’ve learned a lot from him in the last eight months.”
Another member of the group expressed his gratitude for the ministry and its fruits including evening prayer circles, and fellowship and spiritual reading during the day.
“Dennis has been overly helpful with anyone who’s requested help,” he said. “The opportunities he gives us, especially people like me who didn’t know the Lord before, help get me on the right path.”
He said previously he didn’t “know” the Bible.
“What we read here … it’s clear when we leave,” he said. “It’s very helpful and uplifting.”
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||