Volunteers Sought For Kolbe Prison Retreats

Amarillo—Volunteers are needed for two Kolbe Prison Retreats scheduled in March and June, according to Deacon Andy Gonzalez, diocesan Prison Ministry Coordinator.
 
The next Kolbe Retreat will take place Thursday, March 28 through Saturday, March 30 at the Neal Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A Kolbe Prison Retreat has also been scheduled at the Rufe Jordan Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Pampa from Thursday, June 13 to Saturday, June 15.
 
Two other retreats have been scheduled for September and October.
Deacon Gonzalez is seeking the support of 30 men from the Knights of Columbus, the ACTS Community and the Cursillo Movement to make these retreats possible.
 
“We are asking for volunteers for these retreats and any assistance to this ministry will be greatly appreciated,” he said.

The Kolbe Retreats are named after St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Patron Saint of Prisoners, according to Deacon Gonzalez. St. Maximilian was a Polish Conventual Franciscan Friar who was sent to Auschwitz during World War II in 1941. When Nazi guards selected ten people to be put into a underground bunker to be starved to death in punishment for a prisoner escaping in July 1941, Father Kolbe volunteered to die in place of one of the men selected, Franciszek Gajowniczek. Father Kolbe died Aug. 14, 1941 after a lethal injection of carbolic acid. He was canonized as a Saint by Pope (now Saint) John Paul II on Oct. 10, 1982.
 
For additional information or to volunteer to be a team member on a Kolbe Retreat, please call Deacon Gonzalez at 463-0262; Kent Hoelting at 679-1725; or Mike Hales at 881-2592. The Kolbe Prison Ministry is a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are charitable donations for tax purposes.