Brian Mullahy receives Volunteer of the Year award

SALT LAKE CITY — Brian Mullahy, KUTV Channel 2 news anchor/reporter, was honored with the Volunteer of the Year Award by the Catholic Ministry for the Incarcerated Adult and Youth at an awards banquet Jan. 20. Mullahy is a member of St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

Five years ago, Jan. 28 was designated as Father Thomas Kaiser Day to show appreciation and recognition to the priest for his work in prison and detention ministry.

"I think we all owe Fr. Kaiser a bit of gratitude," said Mullahy. "There is not enough that can be said about him. He is a wonderful friend, a terrific priest, a man of few, but powerful words, and a man who loves each and every one of us."

Upon receiving the award, Mullahy said, "Thank you, what a surprise. I certainly did not expect this. I thought I needed about another 30 years in order to be eligible. I only do this one Sunday a month, and it was because Illa Wright asked me to speak to the incarcerated youth at the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center. I told her I would like to keep doing this if she needed volunteers."

Wright, who coordinates the volunteers and has been involved in the ministry for more than 25 years, asked Mullahy when he would like to start.

Wright presented the award to Mullahy saying, "Volunteering is an answer to God’s call. We are called to a life of service."

She said Mullahy answers God’s call by giving time, love, and spiritual guidance to incarcerated youth, by teaching them to read the Bible, and by leading them with prayer.

Mullahy said serving in the ministry is one of the most gratifying experiences. Even when you do not want to go, you leave feeling like you have become a better person in the two hours you have spent with the youth.

"I started by only going one Sunday a month, and there have been times where I have thought even that is sometimes kind of tough," said Mullahy. "But I have enjoyed it immensely because these kids are filled with the spirit of God.

"We do this completely without a portfolio," said Mullahy. "We try to make it a game, and the kids hopefully respond and get something out of it.

"There are so many heroes in detention centers across the state," said Mullahy. "Bishop George Niederauer once said, ‘There are a lot of times when people who do this think they are out on their own,’ and I clearly have felt that way. I know Illa has felt that way, and probably all of us have felt that way. We feel we are out there swimming in the middle of an ocean, and there is no one around with a boat or a life buoy to save us if we start to go under. But we have God as our guide, and that is enough."

At the same time, he said being alone out there gives you freedom to do your own thing, and Wright has always been supportive of what he does.

"This has been a wonderful, humbling, and rewarding experience," said Mullahy. "It is one of the most rewarding things I do."

Mullahy said he used to attend services at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish when the Channel 2 News station was located in West Valley City, and that is how he met Wright. His first talk to the youth was about the importance of faith and having God in their lives.

"I was not sure if I reached them very well, but I wanted to continue," he said. I tried a lot of different ways to reach them, and I had some semi-successes. We would sing Christian Rock songs, read at least one of the Sunday readings, I would give a talk on the readings, and we would pray together."

He said one of the things that finally worked in reaching the youth was Bible trivia because he made it a game. His strategy now is to use multiple choice questions and put the group into boys teams and girls teams so they are competing against each other. They have team captains, they have to talk about the question among themselves, and then they have to come up with an answer.

He started out using the questions in a Bible trivia game given to his family by a priest, but now he uses the Bible and creates the questions himself. Prior to using the game, the youth were not enthused or really engaged, but now they have a lot of energy and seem to really enjoy it. They are talking to each other, and after they come up with an answer they either cheer when they get the answer right, or cringe when they get the answer wrong.

"That is when you have a teaching moment and you can talk about what is going on rather than boring them with me talking the whole time," said Mullahy. "They love it much more when they are involved.

"This ministry is fueled by volunteers," he said, " and I enjoy what time I do put in."

Guest Speaker Dorothy Simpson presented a story about a modern day Robin Hood with the message that volunteers make a difference in people’s lives even though they may not realize it. She said they steal gloom and despair from other people’s lives and fill them with hope and joy. Simpson has been a volunteer for the ministry, and she provides training for the detention ministers from Sts. Peter and Paul Parish.