HISTORY OF MISSOURI REC
Two amazing ladies, Srs. Ruth and Esther, aka Damian, prior to prison ministry were principals at two different schools. They had had many discussions about the possibility of prison ministry. Unknown to them, then Bishop Michael McAuliffe of the Jefferson City Diocese approached their superior asking for Sisters willing to do prison ministry. When the names of Srs. Ruth and Damian were mentioned to the Bishop, he was on board as he knew both of them. The year was 1981. Their first year was using their skills as educators at Renz Correctional Center for women and at Algoa Correctional Center for young men.
Renz was located outside Jefferson City until the flood of 1993 did it in. The morning was spent with women helping them complete their GED and the afternoon found them helping young men with special needs learn to read and do simple math. This first year was exciting and challenging and the Sisters were ready to meet unexpected happenings. In 1982 they initiated a program for both men and women called Positive Mental Attitude. The first group of 12 men completed the class in June 1983. It was at about this same time that Srs. Ruth and Damian attended a Residents Encounter Christ symposium in Sparta, Illinois.
After several months of planning, contacting people to join them and with the full support of prison personnel, they offered their first REC weekend for the women at Renz in March of 1983. The first group consisted of women who were serving 50 years without parole. In the months to follow, they established the REC program in Moberly and Chillicothe as well as Mitchellville, Iowa.
The program was pretty much on their shoulders until Sr. Carol Kopff who was living in Monroe City, MO at the time visited family in southern Illinois. Her family was going to be attending a REC activity in Menards while she was there and even though Sr. Carol drug her feet, she ended up going and got hooked! She was put in touch with Srs. Ruth and Esther and the outgrowth began.
Since Sr. Carol was living in Monroe City at the time, she started recruiting people from Monroe City and the surrounding area to expand participation. Paul Quinn and his wife Judy, and Faye Kuhlman attended the hoot at Renz, their first REC since being introduced to the program. The year was 1983. Paul directed the next weekend. Sr. Carol set up two teams, the north team with volunteers from the Monroe City area, and the south team with volunteers from the Jefferson City area.
Renz started out as a female institution but later encompassed a men’s prison next door. If you can imagine, at one time they would have dances for these two groups. Volunteers would bring their kids to picnics with the incarcerated women. Renz was a farm where they milked cows and took care of hogs, used to feed the inmates. They also made furniture.
Later the program was expanded to include Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City, followed by Boonville. Dave Miller was the warden at Boonville then became chaplain after he retired and continues in that role as of 2022. Soon after this, Pacific and Farmington started RECs as the first on the east side of the state. Now we are proud to serve in Algoa in Jefferson City (ACC), Boonville (BCC), Chillicothe (CCC), Farmington A & B (FCC), Jefferson City (JCCC), Moberly (MCC), Missouri Eastern at Pacific (MECC), Northeast Correctional at Bowling Green (NECC), South Central at Licking (SCCC), Eastern at Bonne Terre (ERDCC), and Western at St. Joseph (WRDCC).
We have had some great leadership for REC and it certainly wouldn’t be what it is today without the leadership and the volunteers. Joe Hedley was our first lay director who started around 1990 and fulfilled that role until about 2003, at which time the group was led by his assistant, Sheila Smith. David Dodd took over from Sheila in 2011, then passed the baton on to Joe Knaebel in 2017. Our current lay director is Jim Lowe, beginning in 2024. Fr. Lou Dorn has been our spiritual director through all of this.
