The women inmates from the Total Life Recovery program visited St. Anthony Church in Kailua May 5 with their chaplain and program director Tammy Turcios, center. (Photo by Darlene Dela Cruz)
Seven inmates from the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Windward Oahu visited St. Anthony Church in Kailua May 5 to share hula and testimony in gratitude for the community’s support.
Volunteers from diocesan prison ministry and the Office of Social Ministry were on hand for the presentation. Both departments are working to provide the women inmates with in-prison assistance, and are planning projects to help them with their transition out of incarceration back into society.
Photo by Darlene Dela Cruz
An inmate from the Women’s Community Correctional Center danced the hula and shared testimonies to thank the parishioners for their support of prison ministry.
The inmates that traveled to St. Anthony Church are members of the Total Life Recovery program, a faith-based initiative that serves all denominations. Total Life Recovery, or TLR, is a four-phase program where community volunteers offer life-skills training and counseling, with classes ranging from agriculture to the arts, to sessions on Christian living and healing post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to the TLR website, the program aims “for the women to work to stay out of prison — not work to get out of prison.”
TLR director and chaplain Tammy Turcios, who accompanied the women to St. Anthony Church, said it was a “privilege” for them to speak at two of the morning Masses. She said the opportunity allowed the women to “put a face to what the church is doing” in prison ministry.
“Sometimes they can be forgotten,” said Turcios, a member of New Hope Windward Oahu. “They are so grateful when people embrace them. It makes them feel of value that they’re forgiven.”
At the 11 a.m. Mass, inmates Jennie and Kimberly shared with parishioners their stories of transformation through Total Life Recovery.
Jennie was a drug addict and victim of domestic violence. She dropped out of high school after becoming pregnant at the age of 14. She became involved with dealing “ice,” or crystal methamphetamine, and eventually abandoned her son to continue her drug habit.
“The life I lived was very destructive,” she said.
Jennie had been in prison before, and upon her release, became involved in abusive relationships. She said she often reflected on these decisions with regret. TLR, however, has taught her to “turn her life over to God.”
“The experience is serving me today by making me a stronger and wiser person,” she said.
“I now stand before you in good health, and I believe God has a purpose and plan for my life,” Jennie said.
Kimberly, like Jennie, was a drug addict and domestic violence victim. She also physically abused her sixth child, to the point that it left him brain dead. Through much work with TLR, Kimberly has been trying to heal the “guilt, shame and self-condemnation” of her past by deepening her faith and relationship with God.
“If I could undo what I did, I would,” Kimberly said. “God has delivered me, healed me, redeemed me and set me free. This is where I learned to forgive the people that hurt me, and learned to forgive myself.”
Prison ministry volunteer and St. Anthony parishioner Rita Hall was there to support the women inmates as they shared their testimonies. She has helped the TLR program for years by teaching classes on “Christian Basics” and “Positive Communication.” Hall has seen first-hand how this ministry has changed the women’s lives.
“The TLR women have taken accountability for their crimes,” Hall said. “By the grace of God, help of the TLR Program, support of people from church and local communities, and a lot of prayer, they have worked hard to turn their lives around.”
Hall and Turcios both echoed the need for more prison ministry volunteers. They hope that visits by the women inmates to Windward area parishes, such as this past presentation at St. Anthony and last year’s testimonials at St. John Vianney Church in Enchanted Lake, will encourage the community around the correctional facility to get involved.
The women inmates also served to increase awareness about a new initiative in the works by the Office of Social Ministry. According to Blessed Sacrament Father Bob Stark, the office’s resource developer, a house in Waimanalo will soon be transported to the Women’s Community Correctional Center for use as a transitional facility.
The diocese is working with other faith-based organizations on this transition project, which Father Stark said will “connect the prison ministry inside with community integration that’s’ going on outside.”
