Within the framework of the month of the Bible, which the Catholic Church celebrates every September, the Diocese of Saltillo launched an initiative for collection of specimens destined for people deprived of their liberty in different prison centers of the Diocesan territory.
Fr. Robert Coogan, coordinator of the Penitentiary Pastoral, explained to ACI Prensa that this work, which has been carried out for 15 years, benefits centers such as the male ceremony of Saltillo and Monclova, the Women’s Cereso de Saltillo, the adolescent centers and the Federal Center of Mesillas.
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According to the priest, the delivery of Bibles transcends the simple distribution of books, since it seeks to bring Jesus closer to those who are in difficult circumstances because “we have seen that people deprived of their freedom show a hunger to meet Jesus. They ask us for Bibles to read and study them.”
Fr. Coogan added that these experiences reflect situations that Jesus himself chose to live, such as “the poverty of being born in a manger, growing in a family, working with his hands, not having where to recline his head, and very important, Jesus agreed to be taken in prison.”
The priest called on the community to join this initiative, delivering Bibles in any parish of the Diocese.
Conversion stories
During his work, Fr. Coogan has witnessed stories that show how the word of God can transform lives. He recalled that in the manly cefereso, some inmates reported that a man, punished in his cell, began to read the Bible and “suddenly felt the soft presence of God. He could no longer read.
On another occasion, he recalled that a newly admitted young man spent two weeks in punishment cells. During that time he began reading the Bible and “he fascinated himself with everything he was experiencing.”
After a week, the authorities allowed him to return with the others, although he wanted to remain in the cell. According to Fr. Coogan, that place became “his place of conversion. A place that now remembers with love.”
What does the Penitentiary Pastoral do?
Fr. Coogan said that the Penitentiary Pastoral maintains a constant presence in the seclusion centers, offering everything that is in a parish, including weekly mass, initiations of initiation, biblical study, formation in faith and holy hours.
Every September 24, Our Lady of Merced, Patroness of the Penitentiary Pastoral, a Mass is celebrated in the Saltillo Cathedral for families and people interested in praying for those imprisoned.
In 2024, a pilgrimage was carried out outside the prison with amplified prayers so that the inmates will listen, accompanied by traditional dances, which according to the priest, then “thanked this gesture of love.”
In addition to the spiritual dimension, the pastoral performs actions to support the inmates, carrying refrigerations that can or collecting hygiene materials for women of the women’s prison, even if by law these articles must be provided by the administration of the center.
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.