by John Stegeman

There is a place for everyone in the Church, but mainstream society often overlooks those convicted of serious crimes. The non-profit Serenelli Project, brainchild of CEO Marty Arlinghaus, aims to be a place of refuge, healing and redemption for just such men. It will be a residential facility that may, in time, develop into a religious order.

Arlinghaus, the director of prison ministry for the archdiocese, was inspired by a prisoner, Cole Varner, who was serving nine years for selling drugs. He repented while incarcerated and asked Arlinghaus if it was possible for a man like him to become a priest. The answer was technically, yes, but many challenges would exist.

“We need to create an order or a monastery for guys like this,” Arlinghaus said. “This monastery is designed for guys coming out of prison to take reentry and religious life and kind of fuse the two together. Maybe we can create religious life out of the reentry experience and the incarceration experience.”

By “guys like this,” Arlinghaus means men like Varner, but also like Alessandro Serenelli, who was convicted for the attempted rape and the murder of 11-year-old St. Maria Goretti. Goretti forgave Serenelli on her deathbed and appeared to him in a vision several years into his incarceration.

The experience changed Serenelli. When released after 27 years, he joined the Capuchin Friars as a gardener and laborer and was eventually accepted as a lay brother. He spent the rest of his life in service to their community until his death in 1970.

The Serenelli Project signed its articles of incorporation in 2020, during the pandemic. The timing was fortuitous as it allowed Arlinghaus and his team to move deliberately in figuring out the project’s logistics.

Though it has no residents yet, the Serenelli Project purchased property in Sedamsville, on Cincinnati’s west side. Arlinghaus is hopeful they can acquire the long-closed Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and rectory as well. The men in the community would work to restore the church as part of their monastic life.

“It’s quite rough but the bones are good,” Arlinghaus said of the church. “It was German immigrants who built it and they built it well… It’s a massive project but we feel like marrying two massive projects together is actually the solution for a lot of these guys. The men coming out of prison are massive projects in one respect, and then you’ve got a church that’s a massive project. They both need so much attention and love and purpose for their being.”

The project is moving forward. On June 17, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr dedicated the St. Maria Goretti chapel at the Serenelli house on Delhi Avenue. Fundraising has been successful, though more is needed. Arlinghaus plans to have eight men in permanent residence within 10 years and offer two-year internships for others, to learn trades and ways to re-enter society.

At the center of this project is God’s love and the power of forgiveness. As Christ Himself said, “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”

“The charism, which the volunteers and the residents will have as Serenellis, is to make reparation for the worst, most heinous crimes committed in the world. Rape, murder, just about anything that makes the headlines. Things that our own patron Alessandro committed, but he received forgiveness and restoration. Our spirituality is to just commend all those cases and situations, the victim and the offender, to the mercy of God,” said Arlinghaus.

To learn more about the Serenelli Project, visit www.serenelliproject.org.

This article appeared in the September 2023 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.