Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Café concept transforms ministry to homeless
Café concept transforms ministry to homeless
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 8, 2008
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Fred A. Thompson, a Canticle Café volunteer and artist, decorated the chalkboard that welcomes guests for their morning cup of coffee. |
Detroit — "Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures," St. Francis of Assisi said in his "Canticle of the Creatures," which honors all beings.
And all guests are served with dignity and honor at Canticle Café in downtown Detroit, formerly the St. Al's Warming Center, but recently renamed in honor of that composition.
"It calls all of the elements of creation into relationships with one another," said Bro. Al Mascia, OFM, the café's outreach coordinator. "We hope that through our outreach ministry, we can both identify those we serve as brothers and sisters, and call them into relationships with us."
Canticle Café, a ministry of St. Aloysius Parish, has seen a bit of a transformation over the past few months from a warming center where homeless persons could have a hot breakfast and coffee to a place that more closely resembles a typical coffee house, including computers, casual seating and a volunteer serving coffee to you.
Bro. Mascia explained that he'd been involved with a similar project in Cincinnati, his former assignment, which structured its outreach ministry less on a social work model and more on one focusing on build relationships.
"We wanted to transform our outreach ministry into a ministry that reflected more of our Franciscan charism," he said. "We attempted to personalize the ministry, to make it more welcoming and inviting. We also wanted to incorporate the Franciscan quality of honoring the poor and homeless, not simply serving them."
Bro. Mascia pointed out that St. Francis didn't want the poor and homeless to go away, but saw them as teachers and reminders of the poor Christ. "There was a reverential, if not deferential, relationship that he had with the poor in his time and place," he said.
He said the center ministers to 250-300 people on a daily basis, and has seen a few more seniors and women since the café model was introduced.
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Guests Thomas Lumpkins (left) and Reese Matrice enjoy a game of chess with their morning coffee at Canticle Café. |
The new features of Canticle Café are evident as soon as a visitor walks in the door — the café has a small computer bank for guests, through a grant from Tenor Technologies, which allow them to enjoy free Internet access. It's already proved useful for applying for jobs, as when the Westin Book Cadillac hotel across the street started taking job applications online, Bro. Mascia said.
The next stop in the café is the coffee bar, where guests are served a choice of coffees by volunteer baristas. Hot breakfast is available until the café runs out, and volunteers also serve a choice of baked goods, of which the cinnamon rolls are especially popular. Guests take a seat at one of the many tables, where they can read, relax and talk with other guests.
To support the ministry, the café also raises funds by selling its fair trade, organic Higher Grounds coffee for a suggested donation of $10 a pound. Bro. Mascia delivers larger orders in his van, and is hoping to sell the coffee between Sunday Masses at parishes. It's also sold at the Faith @ Work Catholic book and gift store at Wattles and John R in Troy, and Good Girls Go to Paris crepe shop in downtown Detroit. "Business has been growing," he said.
The center has also arranged comfortable chairs in a separate entrance for seniors receiving assistance and clothing, which makes it easier for volunteers to work with them one-on-one, he explained, and to make the experience more of a relationship than a donation.
Another goal of the café, Bro. Mascia explained, is to mix people from all walks of life, whether they come into the café for a cup of coffee or if a parish comes by to volunteer. They've adjusted how volunteers minister to the guests, now training them to operate the café for the two hours it's open on Saturdays, which also gives them more of an opportunity for one-on-one contact.
Deacon Don Leach, pastoral associate at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Plymouth, said that even through the transition to Canticle Café volunteers have continued to visit the center to drop off clothing and food collected at Good Counsel, and assist with a Peanut Butter and Jelly Saturday morning ministry. When the café has a better idea of its volunteer needs, Deacon Leach explained, he expects parish members to continue to visit regularly as a part of the two parishes' 11-year bridge relationship.
"All of these connections are there and in place," he said. "The commitment is there to be of service to the people of St. Al's in whatever way we can," he said.
Depending on what the center needs — the parish bulletin keeps members informed about food items needed, for example — they offer what they can, when they can in a sign of solidarity with their fellow Catholics.
"We have to be involved with one another to be the larger Church," he said. "The Church doesn't just exist in Plymouth. That's a piece of the responsibility of being a part of the Church in Detroit."
Deacon Leach added that Good Counsel occasionally hosts guests from the café for lunch and activities. For the people at a suburban parish, walking the streets and talking with the homeless is often a big step for them, he said. "It's making it more real," he said.
He added that the new Canticle Café seemed to be a more relaxing environment.
Other parishes are involved at different levels at Canticle Café: St. Anastasia Parish, Troy, hosts a winter ball for the center each year "without which, I don't think we'd be able to exist," Bro. Mascia said, and St. Colette, Livonia, is also a strong supporter.
Bro. Mascia said feedback from the change to the new café model has been mostly positive. So much of the experiences of the poor and homeless is on the margin of society, and the center strives to bring people closer to the center and build community, he said. "This is all to improve the quality (of care), safety and dignity of our guests, who we do understand to be our brothers and sisters — and our teachers," he said.
Fred A. Thompson, an artist and volunteer at the center, compared the environment to a trendy coffee shop. "The opportunities here for the homeless are much better, the service is much better, the environment is much better," he said. "All the people here are very, very nice people."
Thompson added that it was important that Canticle Café, being a Catholic ministry, has a strong faith element. "It makes a big difference," he said.
Canticle Café, 1209 Washington Blvd., between State and Grand River in downtown Detroit, is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.; and Sunday at 9 a.m. for Bible study. Visit www.canticlecafe.org.
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