Friar sings in the suburbs to keep Detroit homeless center running

[BeatleBoot]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100404/OPINION03/4040302/Friar-sings-in-the-suburbs-to-keep-Detroit-homeless-center-running


"Pachelbel's Canon heretofore had never made me cry before, until I heard Isaac play it for me," sings Brother Al Mascia.

The brown-robed Franciscan friar is singing a song he wrote about a young homeless man. Before a small but rapt audience, he's strumming his guitar on the altar of Sacred Heart Church on Grosse Ile, hoping his stories and songs will help suburbanites understand the mission of St. Aloysius Outreach Center and Canticle Cafe in downtown Detroit.

For the past 17 years, the Franciscan friars of St. Aloysius have run the outreach center for the poor and homeless on Washington Blvd., just a block away from the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. Here, homeless folks and senior citizens living on the edge -- about 300 a day -- can get breakfast served by volunteer baristas, pick up toiletries, groceries and clothing, watch a movie, use the Internet, find counseling, get medical help from a nurse practitioner, take GED and literacy classes, and even participate in a poetry slam.

It's a pretty upscale place for a "soup kitchen," and that was the intent two years ago when the friars changed the name from St. Aloysius Warming Center to Canticle Cafe, spruced up the environment and installed computers. The changes, says Brother Al, were meant to "suggest a more inviting and dignified environment for the poor, the needy, the homeless."

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[That Is Quite Enough]

1. Thanks for the story, and a big thanks to the friars for their actions

[ClarkUSA]

2. Heartwarming. My favorite Christian saint founded their order.

"Brother Al feels closely connected to Franciscan friars of the Middle Ages called minstrels of God (the Latin term is joculatore domini), who traveled Europe singing and preaching the philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of their religious order."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100404/OPINION03/4040302/Friar-sings-in-the-suburbs-to-keep-Detroit-homeless-center-running#ixzz0kAm6s6FL

They should get a website up to sell their wares.

[monmouth]

3. Would prefer my usual church offering go to a worthy cause such as this...n/t