Bishop Zubik washes inmates' feet at Holy Thursday Mass

Bishop David Zubik, in his robes and on his knees, washed and kissed the feet of 11 incarcerated men and one guard, mimicking Jesus’ washing the feet of his 12 apostles in a Holy Thursday Mass at the Allegheny County Jail.

Zubik told the dozens of inmates gathered in the jail’s chapel of the time when, as a child, he was not chosen for either of the neighborhood baseball teams in his hometown of Ambridge.

“Both coaches said, ‘We don’t want you,’ ” Zubik said. “You can only imagine what that felt like to hear those words: ‘We don’t want you.’”

He said everyone has heard those words and felt the sting that comes with them.

“I suspect that every single one of us who gather here today knows at one time or another where somebody said those words to us: ‘You don’t count, you’re not important, you don’t matter, I don’t want to hear your voice,’ ” Zubik said. “And that hurts.”

He said the act of washing feet is meant to counteract that feeling of worthlessness.

“What Jesus did at the Last Supper and what he does here today through me should help erase those memories in our lives — in my life and yours — when we heard somebody say, ‘You don’t matter,’” he said.

Joseph Forlenza said he was an altar boy growing up, and he’s always practiced and preached Catholicism. He attended the Mass to be closer to the Lord and Holy Spirit, he said, and to attend Mass held by Zubik was “an honor and blessing.”

Forlenza was among the 12 whose feet Zubik washed. He called it a privilege.

“I could feel the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Unless you’ve had it done, it’s hard to explain.”

Zubik, too, called washing the men’s feet a blessing.

“So many of them just asked for personal blessings, and there was a comfort in that,” he said. “So many of them had tears in their eyes, especially when I had the privilege of washing their feet. It’s those moments where they said, ‘Wait, somebody does love me, God really does love me.’ And I think that’s got to give so many of them the extra boost of hope for the future.”

Erick Woods said he spent Lent reading the Gospel daily, and he attended Mass so he could be blessed by the highest Catholic in Pittsburgh. He, too, had his feet washed.

“It felt good,” he said. “It felt like God was with me.”

Zubik said he could feel that feeling wash over everyone.

“You can feel it in the room — not only the people who had their feet washed, but everybody else,” he said.

Chaz Austin said he was honored to be among the bishop and other holy individuals at the Mass.

“The vibe was energizing,” Austin said. “I’ve never experienced something so special.”

“These men, obviously they’re coming here with regret, but they’re also coming here with a great deal of hope,” Zubik said.

Zubik said he’s been celebrating Holy Thursday Mass at the jail for a dozen years.

“(It’s because) what I said in the homily: that I suspect these people, they really know what it feels like when somebody says, ‘You don’t count, you’re not important, you don’t deserve mercy,’” he said. “And that’s where the rubber hits the road as far as the message of Jesus, and that’s exactly why he did what he did with the washing of the feet.”