Kevin Starrs, vice president of the Kolbe Mission and currently the director of prison ministries for the Diocese of Phoenix, told CNA that his work in prisons caused him to notice the absence of rehab facilities built specifically for Catholics.
“Part of what you do is just send people to rehab after they get out of prison,” he said. “And over all the years there were no Catholic recovery homes. We didn’t focus on that, we just kind of noticed that.”
“About five years ago I put together a group of us to pray about it,” Starrs said. “Our retired bishop [Thomas Olmsted] got wind of it and encouraged us to go to Alabama where they had a Catholic facility. All four of us got on a plane and went to it.”
“It was what we envisioned,” he said. “Residents are working the land during the day, doing some recovery classes, going to Mass, going to adoration. So we came back and the bishop asked if we were going to start one here.”
Starrs said the diocese did not want to take direct charge of the project, so the working group launched its own nonprofit, the Kolbe Mission.
“We got our nonprofit status,” Starrs said. “Then COVID hit.” Weathering the disruptions caused by the COVID crisis, the initiative eventually hosted several fundraisers. By that point they were working with the Diocese of Phoenix to develop some land for the project.