New identity honors pope, reflects expanded services to Detroit’s poor

DETROIT — In December, the SS. Peter and Paul Warming Center in downtown Detroit is typically abuzz with activity, helping and feeding homeless guests looking for respite from the harsh winter weather.

So when the center’s new director, Jesuit Fr. Tim McCabe, arrived in the heat of July, something didn’t quite fit.

The “warming center” was as busy as always.

“When I came in July, I asked why we needed a warming center,” said Fr. McCabe, who since his ordination to the priesthood this summer has served as director of the center, housed at SS. Peter and Paul (Jesuit) Church near the Renaissance Center. “The name didn’t speak to who’ve we become. Pope Francis has such a dedication to the poor; this is what Pope Francis would want the church to be. And the new name articulates who we are.”

And so, after 25 years in downtown Detroit, the SS. Peter and Paul Warming Center will officially become known as the Pope Francis Center.

Fr. McCabe has great ambitions for the center, wanting it to be the focal point in the transformation of the lives of people who live on Detroit’s streets.

A new name seems appropriate, since so much has changed in its 25 years of existence.

The center traces its origins to a brutal winter storm, Fr. McCabe said, during which the pastor of SS. Peter and Paul opened the church door to allow the homeless a chance to get out of the cold and enjoy a cup of coffee and fellowship.

It wasn’t much more than that for most of its existence. It had a small shower, washing machine and dryer, offering a chance for the poor to freshen up and escape the elements.

That all changed in 2013, when an $800,0000 grant from the United Auto Workers’ Ford National Programs Center allowed the parish to dramatically expand the warming center’s services, nearly tripling its size.

“With UAW Ford, we were able to install four bathrooms, two showers, provide laundry, food and underwear,” Fr. McCabe said. “Another donor renovated another part of the space for a clinic for all kinds of professional meetings, a rotating legal clinic, nurse to provide foot care, a housing clinic, and services for mental health and veterans.”

An estimated 70 to 90 people come in daily to the center, which is open Monday through Friday from 7-11 a.m. The newly named Pope Francis Center runs on the support of volunteers who take time out of their day to help people in any way they can.

Detroit couple Donna and Greg Ridella moved from Grosse Pointe to Detroit and chose to become parishioners at SS. Peter and Paul because of its association with the Pope Francis Center.

The Ridellas have been volunteering at the center since January 2012, and say the experience has enriched their spiritual lives.

“We don’t know how they got where they are; we see them how they are now,” Greg Ridella said. “We spend some time with them, just listening. Give them the dignity they deserve, an audience. When you do that, they feel like a million bucks, they feel rejuvenated.”

In addition to grants from several area agencies, the center relies on volunteers to spend a few hours each week working with the homeless, serving meals and doing laundry.

“I mostly do laundry at the center, but we like to help out anyway we can,” Donna Ridella said. “For me, I learned everyone has a story. There are many different reasons why people are out there. Some are really intelligent, well-versed and savvy. People think if they get their act together, they can pull themselves up. But some are mentally ill, have addiction problems or are illiterate; the deck is just stacked against them.”

Bernie Ethridge has been volunteering at the center since September and says taking the time to speak to people who live on the streets and listen to what they have to say goes farther than any can of food of $5 bill ever will.

“The biggest thing a person can do is say hello,” Ethridge said. “Most of these street people are avoided, people don’t look them in the face and say hello. Recognition is what they want, they want to be heard, (to know) that we really care.

“You have people living on mattresses and when you walk by …” she said, trailing off. “It just kills me that this happens in our city.”

Fr. McCabe wants to expand the Pope Francis Center’s offerings, hoping to open on the weekends during February. But the center needs about $30,000 in order to make that happen, he said.

In the meantime, the center will continue its physical mission of feeding and clothing the poor and offering spiritual assistance by giving something people who live on the streets really need — hope.

“If there is one thing I hope to correct with people about the homeless, it’s the notion that they’re lazy,” Fr. McCabe said. “That somehow they’re choosing this life and they don’t want to work. I have guys begging me for jobs, bringing me résumés. Pope Francis instructs us to really care for the poor, to see them as people. That is why the center is here, that’s why we’re here, working for God’s church.”