Jail Ministry Update and History
                     [by] Dale Johnson

   After 42 years, the St. Paul Jail Ministry program has come
   to an end. This program, begun by Alton Cardinal in 1979,
   sought to deliver reading material including Bibles to the
   inmates of the Brown County Jail. The group consisted of
   men from St. Paul's and several other United Methodist
   Churches. But in the early days the membership included
   clergy from the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths.
   From 1980 to about 1985, the group consisted of priest,
   ministers and a rabbi as well as laymen from St. Paul's,
   Bethany and First United Methodist Churches. After the
   mid-1980's, the program had only laymen from the Methodist
   churches.

   About ten years later, it became difficult to find new
   members within these churches. It was then that the
   Gideons joined us and supplied badly needed team members
   and a steady stream of Bibles and other religious reading
   materials. When the Gideons joined us, we didn't use men
   from the other churches any longer. A two-man team, one
   from St. Paul's and a Gideon member, visited the Brown
   County Jail every Tuesday for about 25 years -- from 1996
   to 2021. Up to 2001, we went to the old jail downtown; after
   2001, we went to the jail on the Far East side, near the
   mental health center. The only times missed were when a
   major holiday landed on a Tuesday.

   We broke the gender barrier a few years ago when Lisa
   Srenaski joined the group. In addition, Lisa produced our
   schedule where St. Paul's were paired up with Gideons, and
   this schedule was produced four times a year, quarterly.

   When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the library was closed
   so we couldn't get books to bring to the jail, and the jail
   stopped allowing outsiders to enter. As it turns out,
   February 2020 was the last time we got into the jail with
   library books and Bibles. Sometime during the pandemic, the
   jail made the decision to stop allowing library books and
   religious reading materials into the jail. Instead, tablets
   were obtained and supplied to the inmates. Jail personnel
   made the decision as to what types of books would be loaded
   into/onto the tablets.

   So, the library wouldn't be involved any more and neither
   would be the jail ministry/book delivery program members.
   So, our mission has ended. We thank Alton Cardinal for
   starting the program in 1979. Thanks to all who ministered
   to the jail inmates for 42 years. And much gratitude to our
   current group: Don Adler, Jim Sorenson, Wil Kasper, Dale
   Johnson and Lisa Srenaski who listened to Jesus' directive
   to visit the imprisoned. God be praised! Amen.

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"Sunday Morning Worship, June 20, 2021"
[St. Paul's United Methodist Church weekly email]
{extraneous punctuation removed and other minor editorial
corrections made}