Direct services to the poor and marginalized continue to be the hallmark of the ministries of the Province. While many of our parishes have or participate in local food pantries to feed hungry families and individuals who are still struggling to make ends meet even as the U.S. economy slowly improves, we continue to operate very large programs to provide broader assistance to help meet people’s basic human needs for food, clothing, shelter and healthcare. At the same time, the Province is always looking for new and more creative ways to educate and engage the wider community to help address these needs and create a society that is more fundamentally just and which reflects the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
Direct Services
The Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, Michigan has operated continuously since it was
founded by the Br. Herman Buss and the Ven. Solanus Casey during the Great Depression in 1929. Brothers Jerry Smith (CSK Executive Director), Joe Monachino (Jefferson House Director), Bob Malloy (Chaplain) and Ray Stadmeyer (On the Rise Bakery) all serve in this ministry.
In addition to serving over 2000 meals per day at its two sites on the city’s East Side, the CSK through its Capuchin Services Center also provides clothing, packaged food, furniture and household appliances. It also operates Jefferson House, a nine month residential treatment program for men suffering from alcoholism and other drug addictions. The Rosa Parks Children’s Program provides tutorial services and social development programs for youth, particularly in the area of peacemaking. Earthworks urban farm not only grows organic produce that is used to provide nutritious meals at the CSK, it also trains local residents to grow and sell their own food in the dynamic Detroit urban agriculture economy. Volunteers also provide dental, legal and other services to neighborhood residents.
The CSK also operates On the Rise Bakery, which is run by participants in the ROPE (Reaching Our Potential Every Day) program. The bakery, which is open six days a weeks and sells its products at churches, the Solanus Casey Center, and local businesses, recently opened a new retail store and café. ROPE participants are men, many of whom have been imprisoned in the past, who are committed to learning a trade, developing job skills, and maintaining their sobriety after years of drinking, using drugs and committing crimes.
Later this summer, the Capuchin Services Center will undergo a major renovation. The chief purpose is to transform the packaged food program into a “client choice pantry.” What it essentially involves is transforming a substantial part of the warehouse into a supermarket, where guests are free to choose (within limits and dietary guidelines) the items for their families. This will hopefully enhance their human dignity, encourage healthy dietary planning, and reduce food waste. Volunteers and CSK staff will help to stock the shelves, check-out lines, etc. It is hoped that this $1.5 million project will be completed by the end of 2014.
Education
On the other side of Lake Michigan, the St. Benedict (the Moor) Community Meal and the House of Peace in Milwaukee, Wisconsin operate programs that are generally similar but smaller in scale than the CSK. St. Ben’s works with over 80 volunteer groups to provide a meal to an average of 350 guests six nights per week. In addition, they also provide clothing, personal hygiene products, bus tickets, and assistance in paying for prescription medicines. Volunteers provide other services, including legal assistance and haircuts. They also provide financial support for the Capuchin Apartments, which are owned and operated by a separate corporation and house people who have been chronically homeless and/or mentally ill.
The House of Peace
The House of Peace provides packaged food, clothing, health, legal and educational services and counseling to thousands of people every year. As at St. Ben’s and the CSK, their dedicated staff is supported by strong network of volunteers and donors. Brothers Dave Schwab and Rob Roemer serve as Co-Directors of the St. Ben’s Meal, and Br. Perry McDonald is the Pastoral Director at the House of Peace. Capuchin postulants also serve as volunteers in these ministries during the course of their year in Milwaukee.
On July 25, the Capuchin Run/Walk for the Hungry will be held in conjunction with Milwaukee’s German Fest. With strong corporate support, this 5K run and 2 mile walk has grown exponentially in recent years and now raises tens of thousands of dollars to benefit St. Ben’s and the House of Peace. Just as important, it provides an enjoyable forum to educate the public about the thousands of their brothers and sisters in Milwaukee who are poor, homeless and lack even the necessities of life. Thousands of people participate in this event, which will again this year feature “Team Capuchin,” a group of friars and friends dedicated to fitness and the mission of these ministries, which have served the Milwaukee community for well over 40 years.
Advocacy
Br. Michael Crosby, who is internationally known for his over four decades of work in the area of corporate responsibility, has spent the past year with other activists in the USA working to launch the Catholic Campaign for Clothing with a Conscience (CCCC). The program originated as a response to the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013, where a building collapsed on garment workers, killing hundreds and calling attention to severe and even fatal flaws in the supply chain that brings clothing from developing countries to department stores and consumers throughout the world.
Its purpose is to not only help the public understand how their clothes are made and the plight of the people (mainly women) who make them but also to advocate for stronger safety standards and enforcement, better wages and working conditions, etc. CCCC hopes to launch a pilot program in several parishes this year during the Christmas season to help people make more informed choices as consumers and, at a deeper level, to critically examine the economic systems and assumptions underlying those choices, the consumer culture, etc. and to consider alternatives.
Br. Michael has been assisted by Br. Fred Cabras, a friar in post-novitiate formation; and this month Rosa Kang, a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps (Cap Corps Midwest) will be joining the effort as a community organizer. CCCC has received seed money from the Provincial Minister and Council through the friars’ gifts and grants program, which is funded by a ten percent tithe of their remittances to the Province.
For more information on these programs and the other ministries of the Province of St. Joseph, please visit our website at www.thecapuchins.org.
Br. John Celichowski, OFM Cap.
JPIC Commission President
Capuchin JPIC 