PEWEE VALLEY, Ky. — Sitting at the keyboard in a white T-shirt and gray athletic shorts, her crimped, dirty-blonde hair cascades down to her waist. From the young woman’s small frame, a soulful soprano voice breaks forth, praising God through an ‘80s song she remembers listening to a decade back.
“Is your past a memory that binds you?” she sings. “There is a Savior and He’s forgiven you.”
She is singing for a congregation of eight who are gathered for Mass at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in Pewee Valley.
She’s one of more than 700 female inmates living at the facility, and one of a handful who attend a Catholic communion service — and an occasional Mass — in the institution’s interfaith chapel each week.
Every Friday, a few lay women from St. Aloysius Church in Pewee Valley, Ky., a five-minute drive from the institution, visit the inmates and provide a communion service. Occasionally, a priest, who can offer Mass or the opportunity for reconciliation, accompanies them on their visit.
“It reminds them that they aren’t alone, and that they can always turn to God and that the church won’t forget them.”
— Nikki Armstrong, volunteer
The ministry aims to give the incarcerated women an occasion “where they can feel free to express themselves and praise God and just let it go — bring it to the altar, and let it go,” said Karen Rogers, a St. Aloysius parishioner, in a recent interview. Rogers, who began volunteering six years ago, is one of five laywomen from St. Aloysius active in the ministry to incarcerated women.
Some weeks, only one to two inmates come to the service. On other weeks, a dozen, she said.
“They have to come to us — unfortunately, we can’t go out and encourage people to come,” Nikki Armstrong, a St. Aloysius parishioner, added in a recent interview. Armstrong, a working mother of three, has volunteered in the ministry since it restarted after the COVID-19 pandemic eased.
Although volunteers must maintain strict personal boundaries with the women they serve, the presence of the volunteers makes a significant difference to the inmates, who sometimes feel alone and forgotten, said Armstrong.
The presence of the volunteers “reminds them that they aren’t alone, and that they can always turn to God and that the church won’t forget them,” said Armstrong.
The incarcerated women are active participants in the services and Masses, often serving as lectors and musicians. The aforementioned young inmate selects and leads the music, Rogers noted.
And on rare occasions, when the women from the parish are unable to come, the incarcerated women will “do the readings and share some music,” said Rogers. “They kind of lift each other.”
“They get to share their own talents. And I think they experience God’s love through one another. That’s how a lot of us experience God’s love — through our relationships,” she added.
The ministry welcomes both Catholic and non-Catholic inmates to participate. Several women, who have been attending the services for more than a year, are interested in joining the Catholic Church, Rogers noted.
They also express their appreciation for the ministry, said Rogers. “They say that every time — ‘Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here.’ ”
Although she hopes she’s making a difference in their lives, the real difference she’s felt through participating in the ministry is in her own life, Rogers said.
“I just felt like they were making a difference in mine,” she said. She’s felt their prayers and support as she received a cancer diagnosis and underwent chemotherapy this past year, she noted.
“These girls prayed for me. They would always ask, ‘How are you?’ ‘Are you coming back?’ ‘You look good.’ You know, they’re just supporting me through it all.”
Armstrong, too, said her faith has grown through participation in the ministry. She’s learned more about her faith through the other volunteers, as well as the inmates, she said.
“I’m always learning something. The girls who participate in prison are very good resources, too,” she said, noting that a few inmates also participate in a Catholic Bible study on Monday nights.
“It’s definitely helped me grow in my faith, and I pray a lot more because I feel like they need it,” Armstrong added.
The women ministering at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women are seeking additional volunteers. Volunteers do not need to be parishioners of St. Aloysius Church to participate. To learn more, contact the parish office at 241-8452 and ask for Karen Rogers.
To learn more about incarceration ministry or to receive a full listing of opportunities to serve in incarceration ministry in the Archdiocese of Louisville, email Deacon Denny Nash at dnash@archlou.org or Deacon Steve Marks at deacon.steve.marks@gmail.com.
