'An inspiration to me': Bishop Zubik visits Allegheny County Jail inmates for Holy Thursday Mass

Bishop David Zubik stood Thursday afternoon in a narrow Allegheny County Jail hallway lined with white cinder blocks and spoke about how faith can lead to redemption.

“The man who was crucified next to Jesus faced a death penalty,” said Zubik, as he chatted with reporters and jail volunteers. “And Jesus’ love was there for him, too.”

Moments earlier, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh led an hourlong Holy Thursday Mass for about 40 inmates clad in the Downtown jail’s red jumpsuits. He punctuated the service by washing and kissing the right feet of 11 prisoners.

The Holy Thursday Mass had taken place at the jail almost annually since Zubik’s return to Pittsburgh in 2007. After the 2019 Mass, the tradition paused for the covid-19 pandemic. It resumed this week.

“This, I can tell all of you, will be the high point of my day,” Zubik repeatedly told his parishioners Thursday, peppering his sermon with colloquialisms like “Hey, guys.”

Standing in a communal room with colorful walls on the jail’s first level, Zubik recounted the Biblical events of Roman Catholicism’s Holy Week, the seven days that close the Lenten season and culminate in Easter.

He often cited imagery from the Last Supper, where Jesus Christ washed the feet of each of his apostles.

“The washing of the feet was a sign of God’s forgiveness,” said Zubik, who, after his sixth back surgery, still leans during Mass on a four-wheeled walker he playfully dubs his “buggy.”

“I hope it is a powerful reminder to you, as it is to me, of Jesus’ love for us,” he added. “The washing of the feet is a symbol of what Jesus wants to do for all of us.

“Through him, God will wash away your sins.”

A pair of prisoners, at one point, took to a simple podium draped with an image of Jesus Christ to read aloud about Passover’s origins from the Book of Exodus or the importance of Holy Communion, from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

Behind the altar, the jail had mounted a painting of Jesus with “I trust in you” written at its bottom in white ink. Next to it stood the insignia of the Allegheny County Bureau of Corrections.

The jail did not make inmates available for interviews and asked that faces and identifying marks, such as tattoos, not be photographed.

The centerpiece of the afternoon was clearly when each prisoner sat down and placed a bare foot in Zubik’s lap.

Zubik invited up, one at a time, 11 preselected prisoners.

After Zubik poured water from a semi-translucent red jug into a bowl, he carefully rinsed each man’s foot, patted it dry two or three times with a white towel and kissed it.

Each man had a slightly different response to the gesture.

One prisoner with tightly cropped hair made the sign of the cross with his hands after Zubik washed his feet. Another, in glasses, bowed to the altar before sitting down.

As hymns and music played over an almost-pocket-size speaker at the back of the room, the last man — wearing glasses, his long, brown hair tied in a top-knot — waited for Zubik.

After the bishop washed the prisoner’s feet, he stood and placed his hand gently on Zubik’s right shoulder. They exchanged words that only they heard.

The Mass ended after a priest walked through the audience and distributed communion wafers.

Back in the hallway after the Mass, Zubik told reporters he hoped the Mass lifted the men’s spirits.

“I think it’s real important, especially to be with a population that’s likely to lose hope,” Zubik said. “They truly are an inspiration to me, in the way they present themselves for the Lord.”