New Years Message from Greg Marcinski

Dear Family and Friends,

Every end marks a new beginning. Keep your spirits and determination unshaken, and you shall always walk the good road. With courage, faith, and great effort, you shall achieve everything you desire. I wish you a Happy New Year!

2019 had its ups and downs, but I always try to find the positive and continue to learn from my mistakes. The highlight for me was this past December as it wrapped up the year on a high note. Schoolwork had been steady but slow. A few snags with timelines, etc. but everything seems to be moving ahead well. I’m just about to wrap up a philosophy class now and will take the exams soon.

In February Bishop Dominick Lagonegro came to visit us and also Confirmed five of my RCIA students (which also included one that I was sponsoring). I am very proud of the men who studied hard and dedicated their time and energy to grow and mature as men and come closer to God in their faith. February also had the birthdays of both my parents and my brother.

March was eventful. I rejoined our Toastmasters Gavel Club after taking a few year’s breaks. I really missed it and felt I needed some practice with my communications and leadership skills. I’m glad that I’m back and continue to try to break out of my apprehension of speaking in public.

April was very busy. Planning for Holy Week can be very time consuming and because of the season, there were many more services that had to be arranged. For Palm Sunday we started outside the Chapel for the blessing of the Palms and readings. Then a few days later the Triduum begins with Holy Thursday Mass, then into Good Friday where we had the service for the day and we also did the Stations of the Cross, then Saturday evening we celebrated the Easter Vigil. What was highly unusual for the prison was not only did we start our Mass outside again but we also had the Easter or Paschal fire! What an amazing Mass which brings everything back from our weeks of solemnity to joy and the light of Christ! On Good Friday I was honored to be the narrator and a few of the other minor voices for a musically dramatized version of the Passion of Christ that was composed by Christopher Walker. We also had a volunteer banquette and I was called to help set up the sound system and play some music for the event.

On May 6th Michael Cohen self surrendered to the authorities at our institution. There was an emergency lock-down because a news helicopter started to hover low over the parking lot. I gave a speech at Toastmasters based on the “Seven Deadly Sins” and how we should avoid them at all costs. We also had a mock job fair which was interesting an