Learning his 23-year-old son began ministering to fellow inmates at the prison, reframed things for Arnold and prompted an important conclusion: “He started prison ministry in there, so I figured if he could do it, I could do it on the outside,” said Arnold.

He went to Carmen Cayon, a friend of his and the director of faith formation at St. Paul Catholic Church in Tampa, as well as Jennifer Rogers who is the coordinator of ministries at the parish, Father Craig Morley who is the pastor, and Deacon Jim Grevenites who is the director of prison ministry in the Diocese of Saint Petersburg, and they worked together to start this ministry which they felt was urgently needed in the area.

“I basically laid out that the ministry is for family members since there is nothing for family members, there's only stuff for victims,” explained Arnold. “It's to meet with the family members and try to give them some sort of solace. Their loved one has been taken away from them. How do you get through your day? You’re driving down the road, and pass a restaurant, and you know you were there with your family member that's incarcerated, so tears come. What do you do?”

Jennifer Rogers, who personally knows individuals who are incarcerated, sees the ministry as filling a deep and often overlooked need.

“It's beautiful being the Ministry Coordinator to see the birth of a brand-new ministry that's needed in our community and in our world right now,” she said. “This is Dave’s season of Job, and he's taking it, and he's not blaming God, but he's working with God and allowing God to work through him. Not only to help him and his son heal, but the other inmates and their family members as well.”

The group began by raising awareness and gathering sign-ups for the ministry leading up to their first meeting.

“Two weeks after the ministry was approved by Father Morley, we had a ministry fair at our church. Perfect timing. God had everything to do with this,” said Arnold. 

“They told me it was going to be hard to get names and that I was going to have to deal with people that feel shameful. I got 20 names. I couldn’t believe it.”

Their first meeting was on February 23, 2026, and he was shocked to see 10 people in attendance. This first meeting provided an opportunity for prayer, hearing the experiences of those with incarcerated family members, and hearing about the experiences of clergy members who have been involved with other prison ministries.  

“It is astounding to see the number of people that keep coming to these events in the few meetings we've had,” said Rogers. “It's organically and spiritually growing because the word is getting out there. This is a safe space for people to share and feel welcomed and loved. It's beautiful to see the defenses come down on people and for them to be open and receptive. It’s reigniting their spirit and hope and trust in God that they've lost because the judicial system or the regular world has let them down.”

Arnold is also seeing that while he is helping to make impacts outside of prison, his son is making big impacts while inside. It is evident that his faith runs deep and continues to be a big part of his life while in prison, inspiring him to lead the men around him and offer them the strength that he finds from the Lord.

“I have a list of intentions from my son,” said Arnold. “He’s in a pod of 70 guys. To 35 of them, he administers handwritten Bible verses every day. He’s counseling guys who are struggling. Every night they have a Bible study for the hour leading up to lights out. There are 10 to 15 guys who show up, and he breaks it down so that they understand it.”

For the ministry’s second meeting, they brought in a guest speaker: Joshua Stancil, a man from North Carolina who spent 18 years in the prison system and had become Catholic shortly before going in. He had spoken to the youth group at St. Paul Catholic Church the previous day before – sharing his story – and told those present at the Faith and Hope Prison Ministry meeting about the ways he now serves. Stancil runs a halfway house for inmates who are released to help them to reacclimate and get a job while ensuring they stay clean and out of trouble.

The Faith and Hope Prison Ministry meets on the fourth Monday of each month. April’s meeting featured Denise Starkey who runs the prison ministry out of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Land O' Lakes. She is a former FBI agent who thoroughly understands the Florida prison system. Father Jean Robitaille, a priest within the Diocese of Saint Petersburg will also speak, pulling from his experience doing prison ministry abroad.

“It’s just amazing how all this has happened,” commented Arnold.  

The success that the ministry has had thus far is not without its difficulties for both the larger team and personally for his family. The prison that Arnold’s son is in does not allow visitors to come in-person.

“The prison does not allow any prison ministry inside” Arnold shared. “That stopped in 2020 with Covid-19, and they're still claiming Covid and construction. So, they don't allow anybody in there at all. Even the attorneys have to get an appointment to go in.”

In reflecting upon the speed in which everything has occurred with the ministry in the past couple of months since its inception, Arnold is amazed at what he has seen.

“I've been present at coffee and donuts at St. Paul's twice now,” he said. “The first time, I only had three people approach, and they were basically volunteers that collected stuff. The second time, I had people that had been incarcerated come and talk to me. I couldn't believe that.”

At these parish events, they offer prayer intentions his son has collected from inmates for people to take with them. The most recent time, he recalled 10 people taking these intentions home. One woman used an app on her phone to translate them to Spanish so that she could pray for them, and one young woman informed them that she was Hindu but still wished to pray for these men.

“It’s just amazing,” remarked Arnold. “They don’t even know these people and they’re praying for them.”

While the primary goal is to serve the families of those incarcerated, they also seek to help the inmates directly, especially those in private prisons like the one Arnold’s son is in. Between separate websites for phone calls, video calls, emails, and sending money, it can be a difficult and expensive process for families to figure out. Not every inmate has family on the outside sending money and from the information Arnold receives from his son, he has learned that basic needs within the prison system like deodorant, toothpaste, toilet paper, or extra food to eat between the small prison meals can be hard to come by. In helping their loved ones, they can also help other inmates. He shared that he has been sending his son extra money so that he can help other inmates get the items they need.

Through this ministry, they are educating family members on how to contact their loved ones, how to send money so they can purchase items in the commissary, and offering prayerful support for both family members and inmates.

“There's nowhere for any family member to go to in order to vent,” said Arnold. “The way I feel, I can't be the only one in this world, right? So, we’ve just got to get these people to come and talk. Talking helps.”

Despite difficulties and frustrations, Dave Arnold shared that the Lord is clearly working both in the life of his son and his own life ever since starting this ministry.  

“In spite of the challenges, there's gains being made, and God's working through him right now, as well as through his son,” said Rogers. “His son is on his own road to Emmaus, and he's sharing the Gospel to people in prison. But also, Dave is connecting the dots of all these isolated resources here in the Tampa Bay area and is making it grow.”

In his own life, Arnold has experienced encounters he can only attribute to God working. He shared the story of a moment from this past Holy Thursday in which he encountered two young men at St. Paul Catholic Church in Tampa. They approached him and asked if he needed prayers and if they could pray over him. He shared about his son and the situation his family is dealing with. After they prayed, he asked if they were part of the youth group of the parish. Their response shocked him.

“My brother and I were driving down the road and God told us to turn into this church and come to you,” Arnold recalled them saying.

This encounter is one of many that Arnold says he has experienced since starting this ministry. His son has experienced his own encounters with the Lord such as receiving an answer to weeks of prayers when an inmate gave him a Catholic Bible not even knowing he was Catholic.

The Faith and Hope Prison Ministry has plans to expand to create another team that can go into those prisons which do allow visitors so that they can minister to the inmates and offer them the Sacraments. Additionally, they hope that throughout the diocese family members of those who are incarcerated hear about their ministry and attend their meetings to gain knowledge and support to then become empowered to live out the Gospel.

“We all need to follow in the footsteps of the apostles of leaving the safety of that upper chamber and going out across the world and spreading the Word in spite of our knowledge of potential persecution we may be confronted with,” said Rogers.

This ministry is providing an example of justice and mercy in the Diocese of Saint Petersburg, actions that all are called to perform.

“This is the epitome of the works of mercy. This is social justice,” shared Rogers. “We’re feeding people spiritually. We're clothing them in the armor of God, in a time when they feel destitute and alone. People don't want to talk about it because of the shame that the devil has lied to them into believing, and when they know that they can go to a meeting like this and know that they're not alone, they're finding the peace of Holy Spirit and the courage to stand up and speak out when appropriate.”

As the ministry continues to grow, it brings inspiration, hope, and compassion to families within our diocese, allowing them to use their situations to deepen their faith and love of the Lord.

“It's just beautiful to see all of these flowers of hope blossoming and turning it into a garden of joy,” Rogers added.

For more information about Faith and Hope Prison Ministry, contact St. Paul Catholic Church in Tampa.

For more information about the Office of Prison Ministry, click here.