"But For The Grace Of God" SJA's Men's Prison Service Sunday, August 24th, 2002

Don’t be surprised on a Sunday morning if a small woman with reddish hair who tells you her name is Norma comes up to you and asks you to pray for the person whose name is on a card she hands you.

Her full name is Norma Schuh, and she has become a fixture around the county workhouse in Plymouth on the fourth Sunday of each month. There she conducts a service for about 50 inmates who come to hear a message of hope that she invariably dispenses. She calls her ministry But For The Grace Of God, a concept which she deeply believes in. Originally she called it the St. Joan’s Prison Ministry, but wanted it to be more ecumenical, therefore the name change.

On this Sunday morning I arrive at the men’s building of the facility at about 8:15, just as Sister Anne, the speaker of the day comes in. We spend a little time talking before the others show up. She tells me that she is a pastoral minister at St. Austin’s parish in North Minneapolis. She is a sister of Notre Dame out of Mankato and has been in prison ministry for 25 years. I mention hearing about that order being studied for the longevity of its members. She nods and tells me that their oldest sister is108 and has begun “to slip a little,” but still gets around with her walker and until recently did ceramic work at the convent.

After this Norma, Ruth, Barb and Pete, the musician, come through the main door and a guard lets us through a barred door into the prison itself. Norma tells us to use only our first names while here, but I learn that Ruth and Barb are both St. Joan members and have been faithful helpers with Norma since almost the beginning of her ministry. Peter earns his living as a musician and was a former Jesuit for a time.

We go upstairs to a large room where another service is just concluding. In front of the room is a bare table that serves as an altar, but it doesn’t stay bare for long. In minutes Norma whips out of her bag a colorful table runner, brass candlesticks with candles, and a cheerful arrangement of dried flowers, all of which say “welcome” to the men who begin to file into the room.

Ruth and I stand at the door to shake hands and dispense programs to this small congregation. Some return our “good mornings,” others don’t, but we know they’re all here this Sunday because they want to be. No one tells them they must attend.

Norma welcomes everyone with a short prayer and the familiar St. Joan greeting, “Wherever you are on your journey, we welcome you with open hearts!” She then introduces Barb, who has a story to tell.

Barb tells us that she returned recently from a trip to Alaska. There she traveled to a remote village where she heard through relatives who live nearby that the people were building a small chapel. Barb had inherited some money not long ago and wanted to help with their building project. She told the people there that she had only one condition for her gift. She then showed them copies of prayer requests she had collected at the Plymouth Men’s Correctional Facility in Minnesota. Her condition was that they pray for these requests and hold the authors in their prayers also. Barb closes her story by assuring the men assembled that their prayers were assailing heaven from a most unexpected place.

Peter plays and sings a touching version of “How Can I Keep From Singing.” He seems pleased and smiles at the loud clapping that follows his song. It reminds me of St. Joan’s and I feel at home.

Next Norma takes a look at some recent headlines, but sensing that this audience doesn’t need any bad news, she has found three inspiring stories that tell of people who have overcome great difficulties and are now living happy and productive lives. Norma asks the question, “If these people could go on despite what they had to face, don’t you think you can too?” There is a sprinkling of nods from the congregation.

Pete sings the song “Only In God (is my soul at rest)” and Norma reads these words from Psalm 62, “Find rest, oh my soul, in God alone. My hope comes from him.” After which she asks us to offer those around us the blessings of God’s peace.

As men rise from their chairs, shake hands, slap one another on their backs, some even hugging, I marvel that these men, who at the moment have so little, are still able to bless their fellow inmates in so heartfelt a manner.

After readings of the Good News from both Philippians and John, Sister Anne comes forward with her message, which she calls a “simple” one. In her own words she sketches Jesus’ life and purpose and the love of his Father who sent him.

At one point she tells us of a time in her life when she became weakened to the point of despair because of a depression that gripped her. She went on to say that she was a farm girl who had always worked hard and considered herself a strong woman. To prove this she raises an arm and flexes her muscle. This brings a big laugh from everyone in the room.

Anne goes on to say that she found from this experience that she needed help from others and when she acknowledged this she began to get well. We all need help, she says, no matter how strong we think we are. None of us can go it alone. What we need to know is that God’s help is always there waiting for us whenever we want it. We have only to ask for it.

Barb has already distributed the prayer request cards and Norma now asks the men to fill them out. First, though, she reminds us of Jesus’ words, “Whatsoever you shall ask, believing, you shall receive.” There is a concentrated silence and some furrowed brows as the men write on their cards, then pass them back to Barb who collects them.

Norma invites anyone who feels like it to speak about their requests. A man sitting near the front raises his hand and says that he wants to walk with God, but that he needs to stay away from drugs when he gets out. This prompts another to ask for humility for himself and comfort for a fellow inmate who has lost a family member to death.

Norma asks us now to stand, hold hands and pray the Our Father. Again I am reminded of St. Joan’s and feel connected to those at the 9:00 o’clock Mass this morning who might be saying this same prayer right now.

We pray a closing prayer together. Peter sends us off with Amazing Grace as we join him in singing and are moved as always by those stirring words.

Ruth, Barb, Norma, Peter, Anne and I shake hands with the men as they leave, and I, for one, pray, believing that God will bless each one and give them back their lives, renewed and healed soon.

Later, over coffee, Norma tells me that since she was small she has been attracted to the marginalized. For about that long she also has had a thirst for knowledge and wanted to share what she’s learned with others. This led her to offer to teach writing to the inmates at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Shakopee. However, her offer was refused because she had a “record.” The trouble was she had three driving citations in one year, all for speeding.

A few years later, Norma saw a tiny notice in the SJA bulletin asking for a volunteer to do prison ministry in Plymouth. It was for someone to facilitate a Sunday morning service there once a month, alternating with men and women inmates. Her “record” erased by then, she jumped at the chance without really knowing what she was getting into.

She described her legs at her first few services as “sewing machine legs,” an Outward Bound expression that describes an uncontrollable chattering/ knocking of the knees/legs due to extreme fear and trepidation. At first the inmates, who sensed her inexperience, tried her mightily, but Norma is a determined and a stubborn woman. Three years later, her legs are steady, and she has earned the respect of the men and women she now serves.

Norma has just received her masters degree in Human Development. She has created a business called Midlife Celebration where she offers playshops, as opposed to workshops, facilitates salons, or philosophical gatherings to discuss a variety of aging related experiences and speaks to groups about optimum aging and dying well.

Distributing inmates’ prayer requests as far and wide as possible and asking the recipients to pray for them is a large and important part of her ministry. She says she never fails to be humbled by the deep and sincere feelings expressed on those cards. They are for her the human connection that exists between us, no matter who we are, or where we are on our journey.

Norma believes that offering the inmates at Plymouth hope once a month is her principal mission and one she intends to continue as long as she is able. And why continue? The answer comes with the hope Norma herself feels every time she looks into the eyes of an incarcerated man or woman, who but for the grace of God could be her, and who thank her for being there for them.

Jo Youngren and her husband,Dave, have been members at SJA for a little over a year now. However, about 20 years ago Jo was a member and worked with Harvey Egan and Cy Speltz for 4 years. Her first husband, Jack Welch, was buried from there, and later Jo and Dave were married in what is now The Itaska, but at the time was a warehouse with a large gathering of SJA folks attending and Fred & Anna supplying the music - the church in a slightly different setting at the time giving us their blessing. Jo and Dave have been married for 19 years and back in Minnesota for the last 13. Jo can be reached at .