A line-up of 35 wards at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione move in single file from living units to classrooms, accompanied by security staff.

Father Humberto Gomez, in the middle of giving a tour to visitors at Preston, a California Youth Authority treatment facility, walks into view.

Some wards simply make eye contact with Father Gomez and smile. Others shout an enthusiastic “Hi, Father.” Among many of the teens, tense shoulders visibly relax.

Ranging in age from 17 to 19, the youths and young adults have been committed to Preston by juvenile courts for offenses ranging from gang activity to substance abuse. The treatment facility, which houses approximately 750 males, provides specialized counseling and substance abuse treatment as well as academic studies, vocational education and work experience.

For the past 18 months, Father Gomez has been serving as the Catholic chaplain at Preston, a position he views as an incredible opportunity to gain real life experience in detention ministry.

His previous assignments were as Vicar for Hispanics in the Diocese of Sacramento and as parochial vicar at two parishes. “I had not even walked into a prison,” he said. “The only thing I knew was the inmates were youth, and I enjoy helping them.”

His first step was getting to know his new neighborhood—greeting the facility’s staff on a first-name basis and earning the trust of the wards.

“These are young people with serious substance abuse or emotional problems, violence at home, many growing up with single parents in poverty,” he said. “The whole issue of healing and forgiveness is a very important piece in their lives.”

This insight shaped the focus of countless counseling sessions in the new chaplain’s ministry.

“Most of these young people just want an ear and a heart,” Father Gomez said. “An ear to listen to their problems, and a heart so we can understand and have compassion.”

One of the youths he began counseling was James (not his real name), former president of the Preston student body. James said that while he had been raised Catholic, going to Mass on Sunday had disappeared from his radar screen until Father Gomez arrived on the scene.

“I went up to him and shook his hand and just got the sense that this guy was for real,” he said.

James said in countless “little ways” Father Gomez offered support, from helping him polish up a speech for the students to making sure members of the student body had white shirts and ties to wear at a graduation ceremony.

“I wanted to go to church more to get closer to God because of the way he carried himself,” James said.

And it was a friendship with Father Gomez that inspired the student body president to lead a drive to raise over $1,400 for the Red Cross to assist New York victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

James has since been released from Preston and remains in close contact with Father Gomez, who he calls his “friend for life.”

One of Father Gomez’s first priorities as chaplain was to make “more alive” the Sunday Mass, which was attended by about 65 youths and young adults when he arrived.

“Because these are adolescents, they’re into music,” he said. “Music can bring a spiritual message to them as they live their adolescent lives.”

To get things started, Father Gomez brought a guitar to Mass one Sunday and worked with eight wards to start up his own youth choir. Next, he connected up with Jorge Rivera, music director of the Spanish language choir at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Roseville.

Since July 2000, this 15-member choir has traveled to the Ione youth detention facility to sing twice a month at the noon Mass.

“Music is a special gift from God,” Rivera said. “When music is touched by the Holy Spirit, it can change your heart. It can change your life.”

Choir member Roseo Angelica Lopez has found that while the choir’s mission was to make a difference in the lives of youth at Preston, her own life has changed as well.

“Now I’m a more open person,” she said. “It has given me more confidence. Because (the wards) are happy, they make us happy.”

Other parishes participating in music ministry at Preston include choirs from Immaculate Conception and St. Anne parishes in Sacramento.

The number of young men attending Sunday Mass at the Preston chapel has grown to average over 100 a week.

After several of the wards spoke of their interest in being baptized and receiving first Communion, Father Gomez made contact with Adolfo and Mellie Rivera, members of St. Christopher Parish in Galt. As coordinator of St. Christopher’s Hispanic youth group, Adolfo Rivera looked forward to bringing a religious education program to Preston.

“The first time we arrived, there were some questioning looks about what we were doing there,” Adolfo Rivera said with a chuckle.

As the religious education teachers and the wards came to know and trust one another, friendships were formed. Since the program started a year ago, several wards have been baptized and 12 have now received first Communion.

“The room where we meet for religious education classes had been a place to fight,” Adolfo Rivera said. “Now it’s a place to pray.”

To provide opportunities for wards to learn more about their Catholic faith, Father Gomez also started scheduling prayer meetings on the first Friday of each month. He began inviting people from Sacramento-area parishes to share personal reflections with the youth at the meetings.

Among those joining in the monthly prayer meetings are Frank and Josie Olivas, members of Good Shepherd Parish in Elk Grove. Frank Olivas, who is also a detention ministry volunteer at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, shares with the wards a personal story about healing grace.

“I talk about growing up with no love in my house, being very angry at the world, dealing with a lot of prejudice,” he said. “What I share is that the anger wouldn’t leave until I invited God in.”

On Nov. 17 members of the St. Rose Parish’s Recollection in Christianity youth and young adult ministry from Sacramento traveled to Preston for a retreat. Coordinator for the event was Rollie Mamauag, director of youth ministry at St. Rose.

Mamauag, who had earlier participated in a Friday prayer service at Preston, had been encouraged by Father Gomez to return with a group of young people for a joint day of recollection.

“The focus was about forgiveness, that we are children of God…that we need to count our blessings for the gift of life,” Mamauag said. “We let (the wards) know God loves them.”

Father Gomez said the retreat was “a very powerful experience” for everyone participating in the event.

“By the end of the day, there was a desire among the wards to continue to grow in their faith,” he said.

Also included in a growing network of detention ministry volunteers at Preston is the Knights of Columbus Auburn Council No. 6149. Bill Gilsdorf, a member of Knights in Auburn, is coordinating a project to enlist Northern California chapter members as detention ministers at Preston and at the Northern Youth Correctional Reception Center and Clinic in Sacramento.

Modeled after a Knights’ youth detention ministry program in Southern California, Gilsdorf said the Preston program will be an opportunity for volunteers “to share their Catholic faith, pray together and serve as role models to young men searching for answers.”

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