by Paula Day

Constructed in 1902-03, it was the largest cement mass in the United States until Boulder Dam was built 30 years later.

The federal penitentiary at the southern end of Boulevard in Atlanta is the second oldest in the country. Even with a select population of long-term inmates serving 20 to 30 years, the prison is well beyond its capacity of 2500.

Visitors are greeted in the parking lot by a bullhorn from the guard tower asking one’s intentions and listing prohibitions. An expanse of stone steps leading to a pillared facade with high, narrow, barred windows confronts one at the main entrance. Visitors crowd into the front foyer, waiting for the first of many strategically placed metal gates to be opened. Throughout the prison, clusters of inmates wait for the periodic opening of the gates that subdivide the sprawling facility.

Within this institutional setting with its fixed and monitored routines, Dick Tolcher, a permanent deacon of the archdiocese of Atlanta, witnesses to the spiritual dimensions of compassion, concern for others, forgiveness and reconciliation, speaking to God and listening to Him in prayer.

Tolcher has been chaplain at the penitentiary since Oct. 31, 1993, when he took the place of Father Raymond Dowling who was assigned to a prison facility in Texas. Although a Catholic deacon, he points out that he is chaplain for all the imprisoned men. Three other chaplains, a Muslim, a Methodist and a Presbyterian, share ministerial responsibilities with him. Their duties can range from officiating at religious services and witnessing marriages, to helping an inmate grieve the loss of a loved one.

“I don’t just see Catholics,” Tolcher asserted, although approximately 350 inmates identify themselves as Catholic. His open door policy was evident during a recent interview.

One inmate, whose wife had been arrested for abusing their child, wanted to use the phone. A “lifer” from Chile asked about distributing the greeting cards donated by a national card company. An inmate wanted to know how he could be baptized and another inquired about getting a “religious emblem” to wear, the official terminology for a cross, medal or other faith symbol.

At six-foot-four, Dick Tolcher towers above most of the men he deals with. His manner is one of listening concern, pliable, yet decisive. Even in minor situations he is called to judge the merit of the need and if he is the one to take care of it, for the chaplain is the one inmates approach first with their problems.

Each Saturday Tolcher oversees the Native American inmates in an Indian prayer ritual, the sweat lodge. Heated rocks are brought into a tent on the prison grounds and the men, seated on blankets around the rocks, spend three to four hours praying. Tolcher admits he has much to learn about Native American religious practices and is studying videotapes from the native American Society and reading Joseph Campbell’s book on religious myths.

He also facilitates a period of centering prayer for interested inmates on Saturday. In this meditative prayer form the person places himself in the presence of God and quietly lets God speak to him. Some of the men are secular Carmelites. “They’re teaching me,” Tolcher added.

On Thursdays, the deacon routinely visits the “locked down” area, a high security unit where inmates are allowed out only to exercise for a brief time each day. In these pastoral visits he may discover someone who was raised as a Catholic but hasn’t “been to confession in a long time.” Tolcher says his role is to help the man think about being Catholic and arrange for him to receive the sacraments. On Sunday Tolcher will take the Eucharist to those unable to attend Mass in the prison chapel.

In addition to assisting a visiting priest with Mass, Tolcher conducts two other Sunday religious services for non-Catholics. Father John Fallon and Father Luis Zarama celebrate Mass and hear confessions at the penitentiary. Because the facility does not have an assigned Jewish chaplain, Tolcher contacts rabbis from the community to come in and conduct services for Jewish inmates.

One of the “heaviest loads” Dick Tolcher shares with the other chaplains is delivering the message to an inmate that a loved one has died and helping the man deal with his grief. “I deliver three or four death messages a week,” he said with a sigh.

Tolcher’s office is in a building that houses other chaplains’ offices, an interfaith chapel and classrooms. A gymnasium and the prison factory, where inmates make army uniforms and mattresses and repair mail bags, are nearby.

Tolcher received his bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University in Cleveland and a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Virginia. After coming to Georgia, he earned a law degree from Atlanta’s Woodrow Wilson School. He is married and has six children, ranging from a child in elementary school to a married daughter.

Even before his ordination to the diaconate in 1987, Tolcher was familiar with aspects of the penal system. From 1971 to 1981 he directed the Clayton County Youth Detention Center. After ordination, as part of his pastoral duties, he visited inmates on a regular basis. When he heard of the need for a Catholic chaplain at the federal facility he applied for the position.

“My goal is to give the inmates something as much like a parish as possible,” he said. “This is my parish.” His plans include adult education classes, sacramental preparation, a choir, eucharistic ministers, a lector-training course, even a weekly parish bulletin.

Last fall, with the help of a fellow parishioner from St. Philip Benizi who is in the diaconal formation program, he started the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process at the penitentiary. Two inmates were baptized in December and Tolcher baptized another a year ago. That was the first Catholic baptism at the penitentiary in six years, the deacon said.

Tolcher plans a Lenten program with Ash Wednesday services, stations of the cross and an Easter liturgy. Sister Lorraine Amasucci, RSM, has agreed to help with a Lenten spiritual program.

A long-range goal is to facilitate more community involvement in the prison and inmates’ involvement in the community. His desire to connect this group of isolated men with the whole Church was strongly validated when Archbishop John F. Donoghue celebrated a Christmas Eve Mass for the inmates. At the time Tolcher and the inmates were heartened by the archbishop taking time at such a busy season to spend a few hours with them.

“He sees these men as part of his archdiocese,” Tolcher commented. During the visit Archbishop Donoghue accepted an invitation to return and confirm those who would be prepared to receive the sacrament.