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June 13, 2022Amarillo—For the first time since COVID-19, Kolbe Prison Retreats are scheduled in the Diocese of Amarillo, according to Deacon Andy Gonzalez, diocesan Prison Ministry Coordinator.
The first retreat is scheduled at the Jordan Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Pampa on Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23. Team formation meetings for this retreat are underway and take place Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 in the parlor at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 4100 South Coulter.
A Kolbe Prison Retreat is set for Thursday, Aug. 25 through Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Clements Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Amarillo. The first Team formation meeting for this retreat is Tuesday, July 12 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the parlor at St. Thomas the Apostle Church.
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 806-463-0262 or Deacon Darryl Dixon at 806-290-8842. The Kolbe Prison Ministry is a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are charitable donations for tax purposes.
