TAYLOR — It’s not uncommon for a parish to feed the homeless.

But a fine dining experience? That’s out of the ordinary.

During week of Jan. 8-15, Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Taylor went out of the ordinary, creating a “fine dining experience” for its 30 guests in the school gymnasium on Jan. 14, complete with menus, a wait staff and china as part of the ChristNet program, a seasonal, rotating emergency shelter for men, woman and children.

The ChristNet program involves 29 churches in the Wayne County area, each taking a turn housing and feeding homeless people for a week. But Our Lady of Angels’ fine-dining experience brings a unique twist to the program, explains parish coordinator John Mosella.

“When you go to a nice restaurant, you have a nice white table cloth, flowers on the table, people  waiting on you hand and foot,” Mosella said. “That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here today.”

Tables in the Our Lady of the Angels gymnasium were decorated with a white table cloth, and guests got to order from a small menu and engage in conversations as a waiter or waitress brought their food.

Mosella said the extra effort is intended to make guests feel more welcome, and more human.

“Normally, they go into a gymnasium, walk in buffet-style and sit down,” Mosella said. “This way, we treat them extra special for one night in the week, and we hope they feel that way.”

This is the second year of Our Lady of the Angels’ “elegant dinner,” but the parish has been a fixture with ChristNet since the organization was founded in 1993.

“This (the restaurant-style experience) is a unique experience, and the guests notice the effort put in to make it a sit-down experience,” said Debbie Petri, executive director of ChristNet. “Most dinners are served cafeteria style, so to have them waited on restaurant-style makes them feel special. Here they are presented with a menu and can pick from options.”

The “wait staff” are confirmation students from the parish looking to fulfill their service hour requirements, and men and women from the parish cook the food — and occasionally sing to the guests.

In addition to a meal, guests also have a safe place to sleep and are provided with access to showers and hygiene products. Parishioners donated clothes and other assorted items.

Guests also had the chance to step out of the cold, enjoy a sit-down meal and take in the NFL divisional round game between the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. The parish also played music over the speakers.

All the extra touches are meant to make the night more special.

“We started doing this two years ago, and on the first year, and one guest said, ‘You know John, you should have the Detroit News and Free Press come here; you never hear of stuff like this in the news.’ That’s the attitude of this. Doing something that’s out of the ordinary to help people out.”