By Paula Doyle
Just a few hours before Pope Francis would celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at a youth detention center in Rome March 28, 11 Jesuit novices arrived at Los Angeles’ juvenile hall in Sylmar with their master of novices to wash the feet of 12 incarcerated teenage boys.
Twenty other volunteers were preparing to do the same in all of the facility’s male and female units.
The March 27 Jesuits’ foot-washing service in the girls’ gym was being held the night before the traditional Holy Thursday ceremony out of a desire to be in solidarity with the pope, a former master of Jesuit novices in Argentina, who would soon be washing the feet of 12 imprisoned young people between ages 16 and 21 of different nationalities and religious backgrounds at the Casal del Marmo Penitential Institute for Minors.
Letters written to the pope by the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall detainees participating in the foot-washing rite were emailed that night to Pope Francis in time for his March 28 evening service.
“I think you are a humble man,” began one letter, among those read individually by detainees standing next to the juvenile hall co-chaplain, Jesuit Father Michael Kennedy, in the middle of a circle of chairs on the basketball court as part of the local ceremony.
Foot-washing of two or three detainees at a time by Jesuit Father Tom Lamanna, novice master, and the Jesuit novices was interspersed with letter reading.
“When you read this letter, you will have washed the feet of other kids like (us),” said another. “I am writing this letter because you give me hope. I know one day with people like you, us kids won’t be given sentences that will keep us in prison for the rest of our lives. I pray for you. Don’t forget us.”
In California, a sentence of 50 years to life is common for incarcerated youths ages 14 to 17. State lawmakers just passed a measure giving minors sentenced to life without the possibility of parole a chance to get their sentences reviewed and resentenced. Proposed legislation would establish a judicial review process to re-evaluate cases of youth tried as adults and sentenced to an adult prison for more than 10 years.
One of the detainees facing a lengthy sentence broke down in tears after reading his letter, which expressed his fear that he will never return home. As he walked back to his seat, he was supported by spontaneous applause from his fellow inmates, including several members with gang connections.
“I don’t know if you have ever been to where I live,” another detainee wrote the pope. “I have grown up in a jungle of gangs and drugs and violence. … It is hard to be young and surrounded by darkness. Pray for me that one day I will be free and be able to help other youth like you do.”
“Tonight we pray for all victims of violence,” wrote another. “The families of people we have hurt need healing. Our families need healing. We are all in pain. Let us feel Jesus’ healing tonight.”
Luis, who at 18 was the oldest detainee at the service, spoke to The Tidings before being led away to his unit for the night. “At that very moment when my foot was washed, I felt humble,” he told the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper.
“Someone else was washing my feet, but at that point, I didn’t feel better than him. I would like to go through this experience again, but with me, maybe, washing somebody else’s feet,” Luis said. “I think this was really beautiful. I never felt like this before; I’ve never done anything like this before.
“In myself,” he continued, “I feel renewed; I feel resurrected, like I should move on from my bad life and not try to be the kid who came in here.”
“I thought it was really moving,” commented Jesuit novice James Antonio, 26, about the foot-washing ceremony. “I think it was a very holy service to be serving these youth and just to have a visible sign of what our intentions are: to really serve those who are on the margins of society, the forgotten. It’s a real privilege for me.”
“I thought it went very well,” said his novice master, Father Lamanna. “I was impressed with just how the teenagers were and their prayerfulness. It went above and beyond my expectations.”
Father Kennedy, founder of the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative, said the youths “felt that somebody important in the world (the pope) took a step to say that they are important.”
“Having the Jesuit novices here and having them have a special place — normally they don’t go outside at night here — all the different special aspects of this showed them that they are important,” he said. “I think the idea of having their feet washed worked. I think it was powerful.”
In an emailed message sent at 2:52 a.m. California time on Holy Thursday to Father Kennedy, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said he was “profoundly touched” by the letters sent to the pope by the teenage detainees.
“I will surely forward to the Pope Francis the letters of your — and his — young friends,” wrote Father Lombardi. “I don’t know if he can read them today before the afternoon Mass — in this moment he is already celebrating the chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica — but he will surely read them with profound gratitude, and he will pray for all the young people that are in the Juvenile Hall, and all that are in prisons.
“I will also keep all of you in my heart and in my prayers as I will be present during the Mass this evening in the Institute of Casal del Marmo.” – CNS