The Hospitality House of Chester! (1986-2024)
by Fr. Leo Hayes
The motivation for a Hospitality House in Chester, Illinois, came from Jesus, "I was in prison and you visited me." (Matthew 25:36) The impetus to buy a house and start a charity offering overnight lodging for prisoner families and friends came from Deacon Gene Funk and his wife Mary Ann. The occasion was Residents Encounter Christ (REC) weekend retreats in Menard Correctional Center at Chester, Illinois.
The REC program originated from the Teenagers Encounter Christ (TEC) weekend retreats that came from a Franciscan-sponsored program in Quincy, Illinois, which in turn came from the Cursillo program that came originated Spain. All of these programs/retreats occurred on a three-day retreat consisting of Die Day, Rise Day, and Go Forth Day. I have witnessed men changing the direction of their life towards a life with Christ from attending a REC retreat!
Colette Kennett, the Director of Belleville Diocesan Catholic Youth Organization, initiated the REC program. In 1981, she invited me and Deacon Gene Funk to accompany her to a REC program at Vandalia Correctional Center. There, we all fell in love with the program and took notes. We decided to bring it to Menard Correctional Center.
I went to the Warden at Menard Correctional Center to get his approval, and we were at odds with each other. So, I visited Bishop Stanley G. Schlarman, who was in our diocese at that time, and asked him if he would accompany me in visiting the Warden as my "token bishop." He still teases me about this, but it worked, and we got the warden's permission. So, Colette, Bishop Stan, and I started the REC program in early 1981, and it continued until 1999 when I retired. We had 32 REC weekends! None since I left.
Deacon Gene, who was on our REC team and volunteered two days a week in the Menard Correctional Center Chaplaincy department had noticed people sleeping in their cars at night in the Menard Correctional Center parking so they could visit their loved one two days in a row. At that time, inmates could have five visits a month. About a third of the 3,500 inmates at Menard come from the Chicago area, which entails a long day trip for a day's visit with the prisoner's loved ones!
In January 1985, Gene and Mary Ann secured a loan to purchase a Victorian house overlooking the Mississippi River in Chester, Illinois. They asked me, the Senior Chaplain, to join them on the Board of Directors for the Hospitality House. The first thing we did was to publish a news article to the local Chester newspaper.
To our amazement, trying to do a good deed caused a backlash! A group of people did not want them people staying overnight in their city. So, we called an Informational Meeting at the Landmark Inn – across from the newly purchased, soon-to-be, Hospitality House, 120 Ferry Street, Chester, Illinois, overlooking the Mississippi River.
The meeting was on a Friday evening during Lent at 6 PM. About 30 protesters showed up along with half a dozen supporters. We tried our best to make our case and to alleviate their fears. I don't think we did. Finally, a man stood up and said that we needed to bring this meeting to a close because some of them were going to attend the Stations of the Cross. To this day, I still remember saying to myself, "Those damn Catholics!"
It took a year and a half to remodel the Hospitality House and get the nonprofit status needed to begin this ministry. The Hospitality House officially opened in July 1986 with no fanfare, no more news articles, and in the ensuing years, none of their fears were realized. In fact, when the police found someone stuck in town with no money for lodging, they would bring them to the Hospitality House where we would put them up for the night. The Hospitality House became a service not only to the inmates and their families, but also to the city and its indigents.
How were we going to pay for this house? This was all left up to God! Since we were a not-for-profit organization, we could not act like a hotel charging nightly fees – we just asked for donations. It just so happened that at this time, there was an organization inside the prison called The Lifers. You had to have at least a 20-year prison sentence to be a Lifer. They had the privilege of selling items in the galleries: pizzas, Levis, sodas, etc. They made a profit doing this, but they had to give it all away to some charity. Some of the inmates on the Lifer's Board—Don, Jim, and Mike—who attended our REC Retreats with us had family members who had stayed at our Hospitality House. They urged the Lifers to donate monthly to the House. What a break for us! The Lifer’s monthly support began at $250 and grew to $500 per month lasting for ten years until 1997 when The Lifer’s organization was closed by the Department of Corrections! This monthly donation and the monetary support from many area churches, individuals, organizations, grants, and loans helped us pay off the mortgage in 2000! Since 1986, the Hospitality House has provided reduced cost overnight lodging to 31,344 family and friends who have come to Menard Correctional Center, Pinckneyville Correctional Center, Tamms Supermax Prison (1998–2013), and Chester Mental Health Center to visit their "Jesus" there (Matt 25:36).
Over
38 years, needs and technology changed.
In 1986, no one had cell phones.
To stay in contact with an inmate in prison, letters or telephone calls
were the mode of communication. Fast-forward
to 2024, everyone has a cellphone and prisons allow zoom calls to
prisoners. The need for a in person
visit is gone. No need to travel to the
prison to visit. The number of guests requesting
overnight lodging decreased to less than one hundred a year. Consequently, the cost to maintain the
Hospitality House became unfeasible and the Hospitality Board of Directors made
the decision to close this ministry which closed its doors officially on
November 1, 2024.
Jesus asked me to thank all of you who support Him in prison! FLH