Zelienople couple ministers to inmates
ZELIENOPLE — JoAnn and Ray Badzik understand that inmates in the Allegheny County Jail can't easily receive God's word, so they take it to them.
The husband and wife duo from Zelienople has been preaching to inmates together for almost 10 years, while JoAnn has been making monthly trips to the prison for more than 15. They travel the first Sunday of each month to Pittsburgh to give Communion and spread the word of God as part of the prison ministries program at St. Ferdinand Roman Catholic Church in Cranberry Township.
They go inside different "pods," or communal areas inside the jail, to preach and give Communion to those who wish to participate — usually about a dozen each trip.
The Badziks estimate they've preached to hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners during their ministries. They don't receive or ask for any pay, although they were recently given the annual Outstanding Ministry Award by the jail chaplain.
JoAnn said the idea of ministering to prisoners came to her while driving. The next Sunday at church, she said, officials announced their plan to begin a prison ministry. For JoAnn, it was a no-brainer.
"The word of God has healing," she said. "Even if you touch one person and that changes their life, you've succeeded. They need to hear the word of God. They're shut off from everything. They shouldn't be shut off from the word of God."
She said a majority of the inmates to whom she preaches are short-term prisoners, many of whom are awaiting trials or appeals. That's why it's so important to reach them, she said, because it usually isn't long before they're back on the streets.
JoAnn said she prays with prisoners, reads scriptures and even gives Communion. Some of the inmates she meets are hardened, repeat offenders while others are in the jail for the first time, alone and afraid. Some are in solitary confinement, others are confined to the jail's mental health unit.
It can be an intimidating environment, she said, but also one that stirs the idea that through God, anything is possible. For JoAnn, however, ministering to prisoners isn't a completely selfless act.
"We get as much out of it as the prisoners," she said. "You come out with a real warmth in your heart and feeling really blessed when you give your time to the Lord. That's his thank you."
Ray has heard a lot of inmates' stories and insists that if authorities could solve drug abuse problems, more than 90 percent of the inmates at the Allegheny County Jail wouldn't be there in the first place.
He prays that the prisoners can overcome their addictions and lead a life of purity and sobriety. He prays that the wrongly convicted will be vindicated and those who are guilty will become reformed.
There are prisoners who surprise him, too, by their level of knowledge of scripture. It's up to him, Ray said, to transfer that knowledge from the brain to the heart.
"It's amazing some of these fellows know more scripture than you do," he said. "They have it in their head but not in the heart."
Ray isn't sure how many seeds have been planted in the many prisoners he and his wife have ministered to over the years. It's not in his hands, he said, to worry about that. All he can do is make the effort.
"You do what you can and pray for the best," he said.
The Rev. Malcolm McDonald is the Catholic chaplain at the prison and coordinates the prison's ministry. He said the Badziks see through the stigma that all people in jail are bad and that they always strive to see the good in every person they come across.
"They have a great heart for the people down here," McDonald said. "I really am touched by how they see the goodness in our men and women here. They realize the people here have done things that have landed them in prison, but just because they've done bad things doesn't mean they're bad people."
