Florida Catholic | Jane Dwyer

Ministry guides former inmate to new life

AMY M. FERRARA | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 11.16.07

“God left me (behind) for a reason: to be a messenger and help other people,”
- Jane Dwyer

TALLAHASSEE | Jane Dwyer’s New Jersey accent links her words to her past when she speaks of her recovery from alcoholism and the prison time it took to reach that goal.

Raised in an Irish Catholic family, Dwyer attended Catholic institutions from kindergarten through college. “I considered myself a devout Catholic,” she said. “It’s only after all of this that I embarked upon a personal relationship with God.”

Dwyer’s journey began when she was a student at Manhattan College in New York. There, she majored in secondary education, concentrating on French and English literature — and parties.

“I loved the social aspect of it all,” she added.

As a junior, Dwyer spent a year in France, trying to satisfy her “love of the international flavor.” After she returned and later graduated, she taught high school for three years before moving to Japan to teach for another three years.

“I traveled all over,” she said, “and I partied hard.”

Nearing 30, Dwyer decided it was time to move back to the United States to “calm down.” But her stay at home as a mature adult was similar to what her life had been like as a college student. “I just picked up where I had left off.”

She ignored concerns from her parents and four siblings about her drinking; even a DUI charge didn’t faze her. Instead, she moved in with a friend who lived in the Florida Keys, where she partied even more.

“I called my cousin in Fort Lauderdale and said, ‘I’ve got to get out or I’m going to die,’” she said.

So after six months, Dwyer made another move, this time to stay with her cousin. She “got it together.” She even met a guy — a great guy, she said — whom she invited to accompany her to the Florida Keys for a weekend. That weekend cost her a five-month hospital stay, six months rehabilitation, five years in prison and 10 years of probation.

After a night of drinking, Dwyer drove herself and her boyfriend across a bridge in the Keys, where they crashed. She was injured; her boyfriend was killed. She was charged with another DUI — and manslaughter.

“God left me (behind) for a reason: to be a messenger and help other people,” she said.

When she went to prison, she was 33 years old. Now, at 45, she is still telling her story every chance she gets. And that story always includes the priests who visited her during their prison ministry.

“Going to Mass was the highlight of the month,” she said, referring to her time in prison. When she entered prison, said Dwyer, she felt and looked like a “zombie.”

“I didn’t know how I was going to make it through five years,” she continued. “I didn’t know how I was feeling about God. The fact that I was then labeled as a violent criminal offender with a felony blew my mind.”

Dwyer went to confession over and over again, and she always confessed this same sin. At one of these meetings, she heard the priest’s crying match her own. He wanted to know why she insisted on confessing the same sin.

“He told me, ‘You have to accept God’s forgiveness. Forgive yourself and move forward.’”

It was a turning point, she said. Over the phone, Dwyer’s voice became muffled with tears. “I felt like all I did was exude pain — mine and (my boyfriend’s) family.”

She began noticing signs from God. “In prison, there were angels waiting for me at every place I turned.” Then she mentioned Father Dennis O’Brien, pastor of St. Rose of Lima in Milton. “He helped me work through past issues,” she assured.

While in prison, she went through a 12-step program and became sober. Now, she is a counselor for a DUI class.

“If you do the right thing, God will keep blessing you again and again.”

After she was released from prison, Dwyer worked toward her master’s degree in social work.

She has also recently earned a promotion as a supervisor of social services at a psychiatric hospital in Tallahassee, and she teaches a graduate level class on chemical dependency at Florida State University.

“Things couldn’t be better in my life,” she said, “and I attribute that to God.”

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Ministry guides former inmate to new life

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