November 19, 2025 • 31 mins
Fr. Tim discusses Pope Francis Center's resources and advocacy for our homeless community members, including the Bridge Housing Campus, which allows them to serve amost 300 people a day.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'll focus on what's happening in our community for the
people who make it happen. Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit
Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light Up
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, Thanks for joining
me today. I'm joined by Father Tim McCabe. Father Tim
has advocated for the poor and marginalized for more than
forty years, so we're very happy to be speaking with
him today because he does great work. Under his leadership
and his team's leadership, Pope Francis Center has grown from
(00:35):
serving fifty people a day to an organization that provides
nutritionally balanced meals, laundry, shower, and other support services to
more than two hundred and fifty people daily. With his
determination to end chronic homelessness in Detroit, Father Tim brought
the Bridge Housing Campus to reality, which we're going to
discuss today, and it opened a year ago. Congratulations, thank you.
(00:56):
And it's a revolutionary program offering short term housing and
support services designed to help individuals achieve their full potential.
More information on Pope Francis Center can be found at
PFC dot org. Check it out. Please join me and
welcoming Father Tim McCabe. Thank you for joining us, Father.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Tim, thanks for having me calling.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well, I don't for those who are not familiar with
Pope Frances Center, why don't we just start by talking
about what the Pope Frances Center is and how it
all began.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
So it's a ministry that came out of the Saint
Peter and Paul Church in downtown we were it's thirty
five years now. There was a brutal winter storm and
the pastor opened the doors because the homeless were taking
shelter against the building, and he let them in and
put on upon a coffee and put out some folding chairs,
(01:42):
and that began this ministry to people who are living
on the streets.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
That has spanned all of this time.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
So over the years, over the decades, it's been a
relatively small operations providing really dignity and care for folks
that are unsheltered. Over the years that we've added services
like as you as your intro said, we have nutrient
dense balanced meals. We have a chef that you know
(02:10):
prepares all the meals for us, provide showers and laundry,
and host some clinics, medical and dental clinics downtown for folks,
and we're seeing, as you said, between two hundred and
fifty three hundred pole a day now that come for
our services.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
How did you personally get involved in the mission to
serve off homeless in our area.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I started long before I actually became a pries er Jesuit.
I was working as a young man as a volunteer
in a soup kitchen downtown, the Man and Meals Catholic
Worker soup kitchen, and met some amazing people. Really loved
serving and got to know some of the folks who
are experiencing homelessness, and that they became people, real people
(02:55):
instead of numbers. And you know, I saw their humanity,
I understood their struggles, and we became friends, and they
have helped me grow in my faith and become a
better person. So I've always just really benefited from being
with them.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I was listening to I think it was a homily
or I can't remember what it was, and the priest
had said I would pass by this homeless person every day,
and I have no money, I'm a priest, But that
one day I stopped and I pulled over and I
spent time with him, and he was so grateful to
be seen. And it sounds kind of like that's what
(03:33):
you happened to you and your experience.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yes, and that is a common common experience of people
who are unsheltered. They will say they feel invisible, that
people literally and figuratively walk right over them on the streets,
and that's you know, it's very dehumanizing and very it's
very traumatizing for a lot of people. So downtown at
Saint Peter Paul, where our day Center is, you know,
we treat people with respect, We love them without judgment,
(04:01):
understand their struggles, and we're just there to walk with
them and provide them with the kind of basic human
needs that they need for getting by in the world.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Let's talk more about the day center, talk about what
a day looks like there. What happens when somebody walks
through the door.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
So we open at seven am, and a lot of
shelters close at six so as people are being kicked
out of shelters, they make their way down to us.
The lines are getting pretty long right now with the
numbers of people that are in need of our services.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
But we open the door at seven people.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Sign up for showers and sign up for laundry, and
we do as many as we can in a four
hour period, and then we serve a breakfast, kind of
a continental breakfast, and then at nine am we do
the main meal. So we do the nutrient dense, kind
of balanced nutritious, almost like a dinner for folks. And
(04:55):
while they're there, they can see a doctor, they can
you know, there's different clinics available for folks depending on
their needs, and it's a place where they're safe. For
the hours that we're open. They feel safe, they feel connected,
they feel loved, and that takes them through their day.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You talked earlier about you know, meeting people with giving
them respect and seeing them. What does that look like
for your organization? How do people feel that and what
do you do to actually deliver that feeling to them.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
They come and they tell us their stories when they're ready,
and we don't ask any questions, We don't ask people
to sign in. It's they're welcome to whatever we have
simply by walking through our doors. And they are welcome
and they're loved and respected and as human beings and
you know, people we have just strike up friendships.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Our volunteer base is so wonderful.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
We have people that come in and they become friends
to the folks that are on the streets, and they
take them to doctors appointments and they see them outside
of the center, and you know, that's a it's really
they the folks that come to us will often say
to me, I've never felt treated the way I'm treated
at the Pop France Center that we're I feel safe,
(06:14):
I feel you know, I feel like seen to use
your word, right, So that is a that's a really
important part of the healing process because we really understand
almostness as a result of trauma. And I haven't yet
a person yet who's unsheltered that isn't dealing with some trauma.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And there's a lot of early childhood trauma.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
There's the trauma becoming homeless, there's uh re traumatized by
being victimized on the streets.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
There's a lot to it.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
So they have a lot to heal from and so
by loving them unconditionally, showing them radical love and compassion,
you know, they begin to experience their own dignity, you
know that they've kind of lost over the years.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
There are things that people don't even consider that are
encompassed and everything you just said, and from my own
experience when I went and to the Pope Francis Center
about a year ago, you had taught me that there
were spaces outside where people could rest and be because
they were scared to be inside for things trauma that
(07:18):
they had experienced inside closed walls, or that they didn't
want to be in what you might consider a bedroom
because of trauma they had experienced in a room like
that previously. You know, there's a lot that comes with
trauma that people have expperienced that an average person who
hasn't experienced that, you know, might not understand.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It's exactly what you're saying is right on.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
They need to feel safe, and the way they feel
safe is they figure that out on their own, and
if it means not coming into buildings or you know,
and they've also habitualized a way of life and so
sleeping in a bed is foreign to them and coming
indoors as foreign, and that's it's all. The bridge housing
facility that we have is a place where they can
(08:04):
begin to learn relearn, you know, what it's like to
be indoors because their lives are in survival Moll twenty
four to seven. They're constantly thinking about where their next
meal is going to come from and how to keep
themselves safe, and so they need a space where they
can do that.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And that was the Bridge Housing Center being built that
I saw, and we'll talk about that in just a minute.
I'm so happy for you that you have that thank
you out there and available for people now share with
us an experience at the day Center, something that really
captures what it means to be a guest that comes there.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
When I first started, there was a there's a homeless
Jesus statue that is outside the building. It's a bronze statue.
Timothy Schwartz is the artist, and its life size. And
there was a woman in the center that I'd struck
up a conversation with in the center, and then when
the statue arrived, I was called out to their place
(08:59):
in the space. Statue on the sidewalk out in front,
and I came around the corner and she Rosie was
sitting there in the steps crying.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And so I almost.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Missed the real life Jesus sitting there crying on my
steps to see this statue, but I, you know, something
pulled me back to her, and so I sat down
next to her and we started to talk and I said,
you know, Rosie, what's going on. And She's like, I
never expected to ever be homeless. And she talked about
her mother's health deteriorating, and she took off work to
(09:30):
take care of her mother. You know, like so many
people living on the edge. You know, she was living
paycheck to paycheck. She lost her job because she was
getting for her mother, and one thing kind of it
just spiraled into being on the streets and she felt
safe on the streets than in the shelters. And so,
you know, we began to talk through that, and so
(09:50):
once we've identified those folks, we can begin to get
them in the system and get them on a waiting
list for low income housing. So in the meantime there,
you know, she continued to come back. She was receiving
the services that we provide. She just recently wrote a
book and kind of has started her own nonprofit now
(10:12):
about helping other people who are experiencing homelessness.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow. Yeah, that's an amazing story.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, amazing woman. She overcame a lot of obstacles.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, sounds like it. And a lot of people are
living on the edge and don't expect themselves to be homeless.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Right, So I think that numbers are like sixty percent
of people in the city if they tried our living
paycheck to paycheck. So you're one catastrophic event from losing
your home.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, So if you have the ability to help, yeah,
go to PFC dot org and let's try to get
people who are you know, experiencing that the help that
they need.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, let's move over to the Bridge Housing Campus. Congratulations again,
spent about a year. For those who are just hearing
about that for the first time, what is it and
how did it come to be?
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Well, it's a housing facility. It's transitional housing for people
who are coming right off of the streets. Were a
place where they can heal from trauma, and we have
a whole curriculum and program set up to help them
and then we get them you know, into the housing
system and find them housing so they come through our
center heal from trauma and then move into permanent housing
(11:21):
permit support of housing for most folks. So it started,
you know, out of a really a tragedy we had.
It was ten years ago. Now there was fentanyl had
gotten into heroin in the streets and we were losing
a lot of our guests in a very short period
of time, and it was really traumatic for my team,
who you know, we love these folks and watching them
(11:44):
perish under the fentanyl crisis was really hard.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
And so which is a day.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
We were kind of trying to process what was happening,
and someone said it doesn't have to be this way,
and we just kind of grabbed on that it doesn't
have to be this way truth and decided to ask
what is needed then, and so we said people need housing.
That I answer to homelessness is housing. So I went
(12:10):
around the country. I looked at twenty seven different programs
in eleven different cities, and I just was benchmarking best practices,
who's treating crime, homelessness and what are they doing? And
I came back and we started to build a program
in the building. And ten years later and we have
a forty million dollar building that includes a medical clinic,
a gymnasium, offices, classrooms, dining room, training kitchen, the outdoor
(12:35):
shelter that you mentioned where people can stay if they
can't their trauma won't allow them to come indoors, and
then forty studio apartments where they learned to come indoors
and can stay with us, safe and cared for until
they're ready for permanent housing.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
What are some of the programs that make it so revolutionary?
I mean you mentioned some of the services inside. How
did you figure this out among all the places you
went and why did you choose those specifics?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
So what looked like it was most effective is treating
homelesses as trauma and so we are a trauma informed building.
The design is all the design is around a trauma
informed so wire hallways, colors, a lot of natural light.
You know, it could have been cheaper just to do
a square box building that went up, and we we
(13:23):
deconstructed it because we've heard that people with mental illness
are understood that mental illness oftentimes makes people afraid to
go up. So we've kept everything on one floor and
so the design is and then you know, there's just
a real a commitment by my team to provide radical
(13:43):
love and acceptance to the people who are there. So
we have classes where they they will learn life skills, training,
job readiness, emotional intelligence. We practice, you know, making calls
for jobs, we do resume building. We're doing all the
things that they ask and need in order to live
successfully and independently once they leave us. So we run
(14:07):
AA and NA meetings at night for the people who
are recovering from addiction. We have a psychiatrists on our
team that does the assessment and evaluation and when people
are in need of drugs or prescriptions that he's there
to help.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Him with that.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
And one of the problems with art the lack of
mental health care in our country really but in our city,
is that people aren't monitored. So making sure they're on
the right meds, that they're tight traded correctly, and they're
on the you know, the right dosage. You know, it
takes time, and so they can do that while they're
in our center, and our psychiatrist is there to kind
(14:43):
of help with that, so, you know, all those things
that kind of collectively help people in a way really
uniquely ours. And like our kitchen is a training kitchen,
we do all of our meal prep for downtown and
for our day center three meals a day. The folks
that are living at the Bridge housing four hundred meals
(15:04):
for downtown at our day Center, and Chef Sean teaches
them how to cook. So once a week one resident
gets to pick the menu and then she brings them
in and you know, her goal is to have every
resident be able to cook five meals for themselves when
they leave and how to do that. So there's that
they can learn how to work in a kitchen and
how to wash dishes and how to you know, entry
(15:27):
level jobs, so all of the things, and we're listening
to them, we're letting them tell us what they need. So,
you know, we have a chapel, we have a spiritual
space for people who need quiet space to pray, and
they're welcome to you know, have their ministers or pastors
come in if they want to and have services in
(15:47):
our building were non denominational. Well, no matter what your
faith background is, you're welcome in our space and there's
a quiet space for everyone to pray or meditator connect
with God in some way. So, yeah, that's kind of
the revolutionary approach. It's not rocket science. It's about human connection.
Really about making those connections and really seeing each other
(16:11):
and loving them and letting them help inform how they
need to be cared for.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
You had mentioned this. The spiritual space and Pope Frances
Center is rooted in the Jesuit tradition and Catholic values.
But as you said, you're you know, you're just providing
this space for spiritual interaction if that's what they need
or want, and you reach people of all different backgrounds.
So how do you balance your Jesuit tradition, your faith,
(16:36):
and your inclusive inclusivity and your approach as well.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
You know, it's all connected.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
You know, the kind of a core kind of Jesuit
or ignation spirituality is finding God and all things. So
we God is in everything, and God is in all
people in all situations, and you know, and takes some
discernment at times to find God situations that were you know,
(17:03):
he seems absent, but we believe that. And so that
allows us to bring people in and know that God
is working in their lives no matter what their situation is,
no matter where they find themselves or whatever faith traditions
they're in, that God is already actively involved in their lives,
and so kind of helping bring that out in them,
helping them to see that, find that in themselves and
(17:26):
participate in whatever feeds them in terms of liturgical.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Life, and how do you envision that program changing the
trajectory of homelessness in Detroit to Bridge Campus.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Well, if trauma is the cause, then healing is the solution.
And so by providing a loving, supportive environment where people
have received the skills that they need and the love
that they need to heal from the trauma, they begin
you know, it's interesting, they will come in. When they
(17:57):
first arrive at the Bridge Center, they will be you know,
they're coming right out the street. So they're often emotionally
kind of hardened and protective, and so they're kind of
kind of stoic and not really interactive. And they get
to the meals and they're just hoarding food, you know,
three and four helpings at every meal because they're in
(18:18):
survival mode. And then over time, and it doesn't take long.
A couple of weeks, you see them and they're starting
to walk taller, and they're slowing down with the food,
and they begin to laugh and to joke around with
the other. They begin to build community in the center,
and so you know, it's a kind of a miraculous
thing to watch, and it doesn't take a lot. It
just takes an environment where they feel safe and loved
(18:41):
and cared for.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And you know that God does the rest.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
And you know, really begins to heal their hearts and
they begin to realize that they and we help them hopefully,
it's our goal is to help them find that they're
self worth and to understand that they are a child
of God, that the God's very spirit dwells within them,
and they have a right, a right by being a
child of God to be treated with dignity and to live,
(19:05):
you know, as successfully as they can independently as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Well, Detroit has a long history of resilience and community care,
for sure. How do you see that spirit showing up
in your guests and neighbors you mentioned, you know, it
just takes a couple of weeks and they you see
that change. What else happens, you.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Know, ironically the people you know, the old the adage
you it's in giving that we receive. You know, a
lot of times people will come down to volunteer either
at the day center of Bridge Housing and they're going
through something traumatic or hard. You know, people who have
you know, women who have miscarried, or someone's going through
(19:44):
a divorce or the loss of a loved one, and
they come down and they take care of others and
in that time they begin to heal, their hearts begin
to heal. There's something about there's a gift that the
people who are unsheltered or people who are on hard
times give to us that helps us heal from our brokenness.
(20:05):
It's that connection when we realize we're both we're all wounded,
broken people, we're all sinful, you know, and we make
that connection and there's no judgment back for we ourselves
begin to heal. And I see that over and over again,
like the gift. People will say that when they come
down and they just their own lives begin stronger and
(20:26):
they begin to their faith grows and the experience and
it doesn't require preaching or necessarily scripture, but it does.
It just happens through human interaction and I believe like
the Holy Spirit kind of working in those in those circles,
in those relationships.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Let's move on to advocacy, because you are an advocate
for humanity and love love of humanity. How does advocacy
play in your mission and how do you hope to
influence broader conversations about homelessness.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Well, you know, our goal is to change the national
conversation around what homelessness is and how it's treated. And
because too often our government and well intentioned in their approaches,
become too rigid or they want to template ways of approaching.
(21:25):
When homelessness is a complicated issue, it's it's it's not
a one thing. It's it's very complex and people are
complex and they there there are a lot of reasons
why people become homeless. Ultimately, an individualized approach, approach that
recognizes human dignity is what really is what we advocate
(21:48):
for and find most effective and so for we can't
take one approach. Uh, it's got to be a multifacet
and we all have to be working together. This includes churches,
but it also includes business, community, involves the government, city,
local government, along with state and federal, all of us
(22:09):
working together to find a solution because they're human beings
and they have a right to be housed. And it's sinful,
in my opinion that a nation as wealthy as ours
would allow anyone to sleep on our city streets.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Agreed, or have no food. Yes, how do you or
how does anybody influence that broader conversation about homelessness.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
The first thing we have to do is be in
relationship with the people who are experiencing homelessness.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
We have to know who they are.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
We have to be able to allow them to tell
us what they need and what's going to be effective.
So being in relationship. So the center is a great
place for that. And I see oftentimes when people come
down to the day center, where we see three hundred
people a day, you know, they'll come you know, I see,
(22:58):
you know, housewives from the suburbs who come down and
right now it's dark in the morning, so it's six
forty five in the morning, it's dark out, and they're
you know, they're crossing the street from the parking lot,
and they're afraid coming into seeing these people that look
different from them and act different than them, and you know,
have you know, the signs of being on the streets.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
But as they become in relationship with.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Them, they begin to see their humanity and understand their
stories and like, you know, these were children that played
on playgrounds and had very different dreams for their lives
than how they've turned out. And so that that is
the best thing we can do in terms of advocating,
is to know understand their their stories. And we often
(23:44):
have to really understand racism and how race plays a
role with homelessness in our city and how racial trauma
and generational trauma are part of what a lot of
these folks are dealing with. Not all people are people
of color that are homeless, but the vast majority of
them are, and there there are systematic and institutional ways
(24:05):
in which people are held back from their potential, and
so kind of wrestling with those issues in our culture,
in our society, and then really contacting our elected officials
and making sure that they are of a mindset of,
you know, caring for the common good, which includes the
people at the bottom. Too often during election seasons we
(24:28):
talk about the middle class a lot, but we don't
talk about the people at the bottom of the economic
ladder and people who are homeless and people who are
you know, we talk about employment, unemployment, unemployment or unemployment.
But we've got to make sure our elected officials are
aware of and working towards solutions.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So speaking of our government, obviously there are cuts to
essential services that have been making headline headlines lately. How
are those changing or how are those changes impacting the
lives of people you serve?
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Well, we talked a little earlier about people who are
living paycheck to paycheck so the people at the bottom
of the economic ladder are the ones that are being.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Most affected by this.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
People who have you know, stocks and stuff on Wall
Street are doing fine right now, but the people at
the bottom are not.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
And so you know, those cuts, you know, the.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Cuts or potential cuts for snap benefits, loss of some
of those benefits are going to mean a great deal
to people who need those to survive. And so we're
seeing more people on the streets. We're seeing more people
who are working but not able to make ends meet.
I had a guy come in just recently who you know,
couldn't afford his insulin who's diabetic, and his food, so
(25:45):
he came to us for food so he could afford
his medication. And so those are the types of decisions
people are beginning to have to make, which is not
something that should be happening, right, yeah, right, So for.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Your organization, what are some of the biggest challenges you face?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Well, funding it is always going to be a challenge
because we don't take public money. We were all privately
funded by design, So it's really always about getting people
to know about us and for those who can help
us out financially, you know, the numbers the increasing numbers
(26:25):
of people were seeing before the pandemic, maybe one hundred
and fifty people was a really big number for us,
like it was a hard day, and now we're going
to three hundred and a couple of times got close
to four hundred.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
So those are you know, that's what keeps me up
at night. And then just the whole the changes in
the conversation politically in our country and the division that's
happening is really negatively influencing the policies that can really
help these people.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
So those are things that I really worry about.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I hope that we can come back to civil discourse
and really debate the issues of what the common good
is and how we can affect it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
So there's there are people who listening who want to
make a difference and they don't know, you know, where
to start or what to do. What would you say
to them? How can they get.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Involved with us?
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah, So our website set up for people like that.
So you know, if you go to PFC dot org
and you get to our website or Pope Friends at
Center dot org, either one works. But there's ways to
sign up for volunteering.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
There's ways, Oh, it's so easy too, it really is.
You've made it very very easy.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Good and there's ways to donate if you'd like to
do it financially, and there's ways to find out what
our needs are in terms of like beyond monetary things
like right now, winter clothes are really important and so
you know, hats, scarfs, gloves, things like that. But we
have it all listed out, so we have kind of
an eye on our inventory, and when we need certain things,
(27:55):
you can find that on our website and help by
purchasing them through our wish Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
And actually your wish list can take you right to
Amazon where you can select what you'd like to purchase
for the Pope France the Center, and you can pay
for it on Amazon like you might anything else, and
it will get delivered right there. I mean, it's that easy.
You guys have made it so easy to help. Within seconds,
you can help.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
It's wonderful and people are so generous. This has got
to be the most generous city in the world. I
just find that I'm just overwhelmed by hope and gratitude,
by the numbers of people who see the need, understand
what we're trying to do, and really jumping in a
variety of ways to make sure it happens.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, so maybe you skip your coffee today at the
VP or at the McDonald's or wherever you get your coffee,
and you jump on Amazon and grab a pair of
socks and have it sent to the Pope France to
center instead.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
That would certainly be helpful.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, every sock helps, absolutely or real. And there are
people who are listening in their cars and I always
think about or you know, on the radio this morning,
whatever it is, and I always think, you know, there's
that one person listening in their car, you know, and
they are engaged, deeply engaged in this conversation. What would
you say? What would be the one thing you'd want
them to carry with them from our conversation that.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
In order for miracles, the miracles to happen, we all
have to be working together. We all have to do
what we can, like everybody, and nobody's involvement, monetarily or
otherwise voluntary, is too small.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
It's the widow's might, the small donations and the small
acts of kindness that change the world. Like I believe
that every every action, you know, lifts up the whole
human family. And you know, we all do it together.
So but it takes all of us working and doing
what we can to make those miracles.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
So reality, Father Tim, do you love what you do?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
I am the luckiest man in the world.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
I love what I do in the city that I love,
doing the work that I love with the people that
I love.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
So I couldn't, you know, couldn't be more blessed.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
What's your favorite thing about what you do?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
The relationships, you know, the guys that are you know,
come in and just being able to be a part
of their lives and.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Share our faith.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
And you know, some you know guys will come in
and it's a wet, cold morning and I'll say, how
you doing this morning? They're like, I'm blessed and they
mean it to their core. They mean it because they
know that God is. They know we all can believe
we're not dependent on God for a variety of reasons,
but they know their dependency. They know where their blessings
(30:34):
come from, and they they see them and they live
out of that blessing. So they remind me about gratitude
and seeing the blessings of our lives.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Our guest today has been Father Tim McKay president and
CEO of Pro Pope Francis Center. More information on Pope
France the Center can be found at PFC dot org.
Get there. Thanks for joining us, Father Tim, Thank you, Kellen.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
This has been light up the D A Community of
Years program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up the D.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'll focus on what's happening in our community for the
people who make it happen. Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit
Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light Up
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, Thanks for joining
me today. I'm joined by Father Tim McCabe. Father Tim
has advocated for the poor and marginalized for more than
forty years, so we're very happy to be speaking with
him today because he does great work. Under his leadership
and his team's leadership, Pope Francis Center has grown from
(00:35):
serving fifty people a day to an organization that provides
nutritionally balanced meals, laundry, shower, and other support services to
more than two hundred and fifty people daily. With his
determination to end chronic homelessness in Detroit, Father Tim brought
the Bridge Housing Campus to reality, which we're going to
discuss today, and it opened a year ago. Congratulations, thank you.
(00:56):
And it's a revolutionary program offering short term housing and
support services designed to help individuals achieve their full potential.
More information on Pope Francis Center can be found at
PFC dot org. Check it out. Please join me and
welcoming Father Tim McCabe. Thank you for joining us, Father.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Tim, thanks for having me calling.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well, I don't for those who are not familiar with
Pope Frances Center, why don't we just start by talking
about what the Pope Frances Center is and how it
all began.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
So it's a ministry that came out of the Saint
Peter and Paul Church in downtown we were it's thirty
five years now. There was a brutal winter storm and
the pastor opened the doors because the homeless were taking
shelter against the building, and he let them in and
put on upon a coffee and put out some folding chairs,
(01:42):
and that began this ministry to people who are living
on the streets.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
That has spanned all of this time.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
So over the years, over the decades, it's been a
relatively small operations providing really dignity and care for folks
that are unsheltered. Over the years that we've added services
like as you as your intro said, we have nutrient
dense balanced meals. We have a chef that you know
(02:10):
prepares all the meals for us, provide showers and laundry,
and host some clinics, medical and dental clinics downtown for folks,
and we're seeing, as you said, between two hundred and
fifty three hundred pole a day now that come for
our services.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
How did you personally get involved in the mission to
serve off homeless in our area.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I started long before I actually became a pries er Jesuit.
I was working as a young man as a volunteer
in a soup kitchen downtown, the Man and Meals Catholic
Worker soup kitchen, and met some amazing people. Really loved
serving and got to know some of the folks who
are experiencing homelessness, and that they became people, real people
(02:55):
instead of numbers. And you know, I saw their humanity,
I understood their struggles, and we became friends, and they
have helped me grow in my faith and become a
better person. So I've always just really benefited from being
with them.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I was listening to I think it was a homily
or I can't remember what it was, and the priest
had said I would pass by this homeless person every day,
and I have no money, I'm a priest, But that
one day I stopped and I pulled over and I
spent time with him, and he was so grateful to
be seen. And it sounds kind of like that's what
(03:33):
you happened to you and your experience.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yes, and that is a common common experience of people
who are unsheltered. They will say they feel invisible, that
people literally and figuratively walk right over them on the streets,
and that's you know, it's very dehumanizing and very it's
very traumatizing for a lot of people. So downtown at
Saint Peter Paul, where our day Center is, you know,
we treat people with respect, We love them without judgment,
(04:01):
understand their struggles, and we're just there to walk with
them and provide them with the kind of basic human
needs that they need for getting by in the world.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Let's talk more about the day center, talk about what
a day looks like there. What happens when somebody walks
through the door.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
So we open at seven am, and a lot of
shelters close at six so as people are being kicked
out of shelters, they make their way down to us.
The lines are getting pretty long right now with the
numbers of people that are in need of our services.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
But we open the door at seven people.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Sign up for showers and sign up for laundry, and
we do as many as we can in a four
hour period, and then we serve a breakfast, kind of
a continental breakfast, and then at nine am we do
the main meal. So we do the nutrient dense, kind
of balanced nutritious, almost like a dinner for folks. And
(04:55):
while they're there, they can see a doctor, they can
you know, there's different clinics available for folks depending on
their needs, and it's a place where they're safe. For
the hours that we're open. They feel safe, they feel connected,
they feel loved, and that takes them through their day.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You talked earlier about you know, meeting people with giving
them respect and seeing them. What does that look like
for your organization? How do people feel that and what
do you do to actually deliver that feeling to them.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
They come and they tell us their stories when they're ready,
and we don't ask any questions, We don't ask people
to sign in. It's they're welcome to whatever we have
simply by walking through our doors. And they are welcome
and they're loved and respected and as human beings and
you know, people we have just strike up friendships.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Our volunteer base is so wonderful.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
We have people that come in and they become friends
to the folks that are on the streets, and they
take them to doctors appointments and they see them outside
of the center, and you know, that's a it's really
they the folks that come to us will often say
to me, I've never felt treated the way I'm treated
at the Pop France Center that we're I feel safe,
(06:14):
I feel you know, I feel like seen to use
your word, right, So that is a that's a really
important part of the healing process because we really understand
almostness as a result of trauma. And I haven't yet
a person yet who's unsheltered that isn't dealing with some trauma.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And there's a lot of early childhood trauma.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
There's the trauma becoming homeless, there's uh re traumatized by
being victimized on the streets.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
There's a lot to it.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
So they have a lot to heal from and so
by loving them unconditionally, showing them radical love and compassion,
you know, they begin to experience their own dignity, you
know that they've kind of lost over the years.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
There are things that people don't even consider that are
encompassed and everything you just said, and from my own
experience when I went and to the Pope Francis Center
about a year ago, you had taught me that there
were spaces outside where people could rest and be because
they were scared to be inside for things trauma that
(07:18):
they had experienced inside closed walls, or that they didn't
want to be in what you might consider a bedroom
because of trauma they had experienced in a room like
that previously. You know, there's a lot that comes with
trauma that people have expperienced that an average person who
hasn't experienced that, you know, might not understand.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It's exactly what you're saying is right on.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
They need to feel safe, and the way they feel
safe is they figure that out on their own, and
if it means not coming into buildings or you know,
and they've also habitualized a way of life and so
sleeping in a bed is foreign to them and coming
indoors as foreign, and that's it's all. The bridge housing
facility that we have is a place where they can
(08:04):
begin to learn relearn, you know, what it's like to
be indoors because their lives are in survival Moll twenty
four to seven. They're constantly thinking about where their next
meal is going to come from and how to keep
themselves safe, and so they need a space where they
can do that.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And that was the Bridge Housing Center being built that
I saw, and we'll talk about that in just a minute.
I'm so happy for you that you have that thank
you out there and available for people now share with
us an experience at the day Center, something that really
captures what it means to be a guest that comes there.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
When I first started, there was a there's a homeless
Jesus statue that is outside the building. It's a bronze statue.
Timothy Schwartz is the artist, and its life size. And
there was a woman in the center that I'd struck
up a conversation with in the center, and then when
the statue arrived, I was called out to their place
(08:59):
in the space. Statue on the sidewalk out in front,
and I came around the corner and she Rosie was
sitting there in the steps crying.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And so I almost.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Missed the real life Jesus sitting there crying on my
steps to see this statue, but I, you know, something
pulled me back to her, and so I sat down
next to her and we started to talk and I said,
you know, Rosie, what's going on. And She's like, I
never expected to ever be homeless. And she talked about
her mother's health deteriorating, and she took off work to
(09:30):
take care of her mother. You know, like so many
people living on the edge. You know, she was living
paycheck to paycheck. She lost her job because she was
getting for her mother, and one thing kind of it
just spiraled into being on the streets and she felt
safe on the streets than in the shelters. And so,
you know, we began to talk through that, and so
(09:50):
once we've identified those folks, we can begin to get
them in the system and get them on a waiting
list for low income housing. So in the meantime there,
you know, she continued to come back. She was receiving
the services that we provide. She just recently wrote a
book and kind of has started her own nonprofit now
(10:12):
about helping other people who are experiencing homelessness.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow. Yeah, that's an amazing story.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, amazing woman. She overcame a lot of obstacles.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, sounds like it. And a lot of people are
living on the edge and don't expect themselves to be homeless.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Right, So I think that numbers are like sixty percent
of people in the city if they tried our living
paycheck to paycheck. So you're one catastrophic event from losing
your home.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, So if you have the ability to help, yeah,
go to PFC dot org and let's try to get
people who are you know, experiencing that the help that
they need.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, let's move over to the Bridge Housing Campus. Congratulations again,
spent about a year. For those who are just hearing
about that for the first time, what is it and
how did it come to be?
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Well, it's a housing facility. It's transitional housing for people
who are coming right off of the streets. Were a
place where they can heal from trauma, and we have
a whole curriculum and program set up to help them
and then we get them you know, into the housing
system and find them housing so they come through our
center heal from trauma and then move into permanent housing
(11:21):
permit support of housing for most folks. So it started,
you know, out of a really a tragedy we had.
It was ten years ago. Now there was fentanyl had
gotten into heroin in the streets and we were losing
a lot of our guests in a very short period
of time, and it was really traumatic for my team,
who you know, we love these folks and watching them
(11:44):
perish under the fentanyl crisis was really hard.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
And so which is a day.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
We were kind of trying to process what was happening,
and someone said it doesn't have to be this way,
and we just kind of grabbed on that it doesn't
have to be this way truth and decided to ask
what is needed then, and so we said people need housing.
That I answer to homelessness is housing. So I went
(12:10):
around the country. I looked at twenty seven different programs
in eleven different cities, and I just was benchmarking best practices,
who's treating crime, homelessness and what are they doing? And
I came back and we started to build a program
in the building. And ten years later and we have
a forty million dollar building that includes a medical clinic,
a gymnasium, offices, classrooms, dining room, training kitchen, the outdoor
(12:35):
shelter that you mentioned where people can stay if they
can't their trauma won't allow them to come indoors, and
then forty studio apartments where they learned to come indoors
and can stay with us, safe and cared for until
they're ready for permanent housing.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
What are some of the programs that make it so revolutionary?
I mean you mentioned some of the services inside. How
did you figure this out among all the places you
went and why did you choose those specifics?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
So what looked like it was most effective is treating
homelesses as trauma and so we are a trauma informed building.
The design is all the design is around a trauma
informed so wire hallways, colors, a lot of natural light.
You know, it could have been cheaper just to do
a square box building that went up, and we we
(13:23):
deconstructed it because we've heard that people with mental illness
are understood that mental illness oftentimes makes people afraid to
go up. So we've kept everything on one floor and
so the design is and then you know, there's just
a real a commitment by my team to provide radical
(13:43):
love and acceptance to the people who are there. So
we have classes where they they will learn life skills, training,
job readiness, emotional intelligence. We practice, you know, making calls
for jobs, we do resume building. We're doing all the
things that they ask and need in order to live
successfully and independently once they leave us. So we run
(14:07):
AA and NA meetings at night for the people who
are recovering from addiction. We have a psychiatrists on our
team that does the assessment and evaluation and when people
are in need of drugs or prescriptions that he's there
to help.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Him with that.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
And one of the problems with art the lack of
mental health care in our country really but in our city,
is that people aren't monitored. So making sure they're on
the right meds, that they're tight traded correctly, and they're
on the you know, the right dosage. You know, it
takes time, and so they can do that while they're
in our center, and our psychiatrist is there to kind
(14:43):
of help with that, so, you know, all those things
that kind of collectively help people in a way really
uniquely ours. And like our kitchen is a training kitchen,
we do all of our meal prep for downtown and
for our day center three meals a day. The folks
that are living at the Bridge housing four hundred meals
(15:04):
for downtown at our day Center, and Chef Sean teaches
them how to cook. So once a week one resident
gets to pick the menu and then she brings them
in and you know, her goal is to have every
resident be able to cook five meals for themselves when
they leave and how to do that. So there's that
they can learn how to work in a kitchen and
how to wash dishes and how to you know, entry
(15:27):
level jobs, so all of the things, and we're listening
to them, we're letting them tell us what they need. So,
you know, we have a chapel, we have a spiritual
space for people who need quiet space to pray, and
they're welcome to you know, have their ministers or pastors
come in if they want to and have services in
(15:47):
our building were non denominational. Well, no matter what your
faith background is, you're welcome in our space and there's
a quiet space for everyone to pray or meditator connect
with God in some way. So, yeah, that's kind of
the revolutionary approach. It's not rocket science. It's about human connection.
Really about making those connections and really seeing each other
(16:11):
and loving them and letting them help inform how they
need to be cared for.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
You had mentioned this. The spiritual space and Pope Frances
Center is rooted in the Jesuit tradition and Catholic values.
But as you said, you're you know, you're just providing
this space for spiritual interaction if that's what they need
or want, and you reach people of all different backgrounds.
So how do you balance your Jesuit tradition, your faith,
(16:36):
and your inclusive inclusivity and your approach as well.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
You know, it's all connected.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
You know, the kind of a core kind of Jesuit
or ignation spirituality is finding God and all things. So
we God is in everything, and God is in all
people in all situations, and you know, and takes some
discernment at times to find God situations that were you know,
(17:03):
he seems absent, but we believe that. And so that
allows us to bring people in and know that God
is working in their lives no matter what their situation is,
no matter where they find themselves or whatever faith traditions
they're in, that God is already actively involved in their lives,
and so kind of helping bring that out in them,
helping them to see that, find that in themselves and
(17:26):
participate in whatever feeds them in terms of liturgical.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Life, and how do you envision that program changing the
trajectory of homelessness in Detroit to Bridge Campus.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Well, if trauma is the cause, then healing is the solution.
And so by providing a loving, supportive environment where people
have received the skills that they need and the love
that they need to heal from the trauma, they begin
you know, it's interesting, they will come in. When they
(17:57):
first arrive at the Bridge Center, they will be you know,
they're coming right out the street. So they're often emotionally
kind of hardened and protective, and so they're kind of
kind of stoic and not really interactive. And they get
to the meals and they're just hoarding food, you know,
three and four helpings at every meal because they're in
(18:18):
survival mode. And then over time, and it doesn't take long.
A couple of weeks, you see them and they're starting
to walk taller, and they're slowing down with the food,
and they begin to laugh and to joke around with
the other. They begin to build community in the center,
and so you know, it's a kind of a miraculous
thing to watch, and it doesn't take a lot. It
just takes an environment where they feel safe and loved
(18:41):
and cared for.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And you know that God does the rest.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
And you know, really begins to heal their hearts and
they begin to realize that they and we help them hopefully,
it's our goal is to help them find that they're
self worth and to understand that they are a child
of God, that the God's very spirit dwells within them,
and they have a right, a right by being a
child of God to be treated with dignity and to live,
(19:05):
you know, as successfully as they can independently as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Well, Detroit has a long history of resilience and community care,
for sure. How do you see that spirit showing up
in your guests and neighbors you mentioned, you know, it
just takes a couple of weeks and they you see
that change. What else happens, you.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Know, ironically the people you know, the old the adage
you it's in giving that we receive. You know, a
lot of times people will come down to volunteer either
at the day center of Bridge Housing and they're going
through something traumatic or hard. You know, people who have
you know, women who have miscarried, or someone's going through
(19:44):
a divorce or the loss of a loved one, and
they come down and they take care of others and
in that time they begin to heal, their hearts begin
to heal. There's something about there's a gift that the
people who are unsheltered or people who are on hard
times give to us that helps us heal from our brokenness.
(20:05):
It's that connection when we realize we're both we're all wounded,
broken people, we're all sinful, you know, and we make
that connection and there's no judgment back for we ourselves
begin to heal. And I see that over and over again,
like the gift. People will say that when they come
down and they just their own lives begin stronger and
(20:26):
they begin to their faith grows and the experience and
it doesn't require preaching or necessarily scripture, but it does.
It just happens through human interaction and I believe like
the Holy Spirit kind of working in those in those circles,
in those relationships.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Let's move on to advocacy, because you are an advocate
for humanity and love love of humanity. How does advocacy
play in your mission and how do you hope to
influence broader conversations about homelessness.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Well, you know, our goal is to change the national
conversation around what homelessness is and how it's treated. And
because too often our government and well intentioned in their approaches,
become too rigid or they want to template ways of approaching.
(21:25):
When homelessness is a complicated issue, it's it's it's not
a one thing. It's it's very complex and people are
complex and they there there are a lot of reasons
why people become homeless. Ultimately, an individualized approach, approach that
recognizes human dignity is what really is what we advocate
(21:48):
for and find most effective and so for we can't
take one approach. Uh, it's got to be a multifacet
and we all have to be working together. This includes churches,
but it also includes business, community, involves the government, city,
local government, along with state and federal, all of us
(22:09):
working together to find a solution because they're human beings
and they have a right to be housed. And it's sinful,
in my opinion that a nation as wealthy as ours
would allow anyone to sleep on our city streets.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Agreed, or have no food. Yes, how do you or
how does anybody influence that broader conversation about homelessness.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
The first thing we have to do is be in
relationship with the people who are experiencing homelessness.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
We have to know who they are.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
We have to be able to allow them to tell
us what they need and what's going to be effective.
So being in relationship. So the center is a great
place for that. And I see oftentimes when people come
down to the day center, where we see three hundred
people a day, you know, they'll come you know, I see,
(22:58):
you know, housewives from the suburbs who come down and
right now it's dark in the morning, so it's six
forty five in the morning, it's dark out, and they're
you know, they're crossing the street from the parking lot,
and they're afraid coming into seeing these people that look
different from them and act different than them, and you know,
have you know, the signs of being on the streets.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
But as they become in relationship with.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Them, they begin to see their humanity and understand their
stories and like, you know, these were children that played
on playgrounds and had very different dreams for their lives
than how they've turned out. And so that that is
the best thing we can do in terms of advocating,
is to know understand their their stories. And we often
(23:44):
have to really understand racism and how race plays a
role with homelessness in our city and how racial trauma
and generational trauma are part of what a lot of
these folks are dealing with. Not all people are people
of color that are homeless, but the vast majority of
them are, and there there are systematic and institutional ways
(24:05):
in which people are held back from their potential, and
so kind of wrestling with those issues in our culture,
in our society, and then really contacting our elected officials
and making sure that they are of a mindset of,
you know, caring for the common good, which includes the
people at the bottom. Too often during election seasons we
(24:28):
talk about the middle class a lot, but we don't
talk about the people at the bottom of the economic
ladder and people who are homeless and people who are
you know, we talk about employment, unemployment, unemployment or unemployment.
But we've got to make sure our elected officials are
aware of and working towards solutions.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So speaking of our government, obviously there are cuts to
essential services that have been making headline headlines lately. How
are those changing or how are those changes impacting the
lives of people you serve?
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Well, we talked a little earlier about people who are
living paycheck to paycheck so the people at the bottom
of the economic ladder are the ones that are being.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Most affected by this.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
People who have you know, stocks and stuff on Wall
Street are doing fine right now, but the people at
the bottom are not.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
And so you know, those cuts, you know, the.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Cuts or potential cuts for snap benefits, loss of some
of those benefits are going to mean a great deal
to people who need those to survive. And so we're
seeing more people on the streets. We're seeing more people
who are working but not able to make ends meet.
I had a guy come in just recently who you know,
couldn't afford his insulin who's diabetic, and his food, so
(25:45):
he came to us for food so he could afford
his medication. And so those are the types of decisions
people are beginning to have to make, which is not
something that should be happening, right, yeah, right, So for.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Your organization, what are some of the biggest challenges you face?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Well, funding it is always going to be a challenge
because we don't take public money. We were all privately
funded by design, So it's really always about getting people
to know about us and for those who can help
us out financially, you know, the numbers the increasing numbers
(26:25):
of people were seeing before the pandemic, maybe one hundred
and fifty people was a really big number for us,
like it was a hard day, and now we're going
to three hundred and a couple of times got close
to four hundred.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
So those are you know, that's what keeps me up
at night. And then just the whole the changes in
the conversation politically in our country and the division that's
happening is really negatively influencing the policies that can really
help these people.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
So those are things that I really worry about.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I hope that we can come back to civil discourse
and really debate the issues of what the common good
is and how we can affect it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
So there's there are people who listening who want to
make a difference and they don't know, you know, where
to start or what to do. What would you say
to them? How can they get.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Involved with us?
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah, So our website set up for people like that.
So you know, if you go to PFC dot org
and you get to our website or Pope Friends at
Center dot org, either one works. But there's ways to
sign up for volunteering.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
There's ways, Oh, it's so easy too, it really is.
You've made it very very easy.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Good and there's ways to donate if you'd like to
do it financially, and there's ways to find out what
our needs are in terms of like beyond monetary things
like right now, winter clothes are really important and so
you know, hats, scarfs, gloves, things like that. But we
have it all listed out, so we have kind of
an eye on our inventory, and when we need certain things,
(27:55):
you can find that on our website and help by
purchasing them through our wish Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
And actually your wish list can take you right to
Amazon where you can select what you'd like to purchase
for the Pope France the Center, and you can pay
for it on Amazon like you might anything else, and
it will get delivered right there. I mean, it's that easy.
You guys have made it so easy to help. Within seconds,
you can help.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
It's wonderful and people are so generous. This has got
to be the most generous city in the world. I
just find that I'm just overwhelmed by hope and gratitude,
by the numbers of people who see the need, understand
what we're trying to do, and really jumping in a
variety of ways to make sure it happens.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, so maybe you skip your coffee today at the
VP or at the McDonald's or wherever you get your coffee,
and you jump on Amazon and grab a pair of
socks and have it sent to the Pope France to
center instead.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
That would certainly be helpful.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, every sock helps, absolutely or real. And there are
people who are listening in their cars and I always
think about or you know, on the radio this morning,
whatever it is, and I always think, you know, there's
that one person listening in their car, you know, and
they are engaged, deeply engaged in this conversation. What would
you say? What would be the one thing you'd want
them to carry with them from our conversation that.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
In order for miracles, the miracles to happen, we all
have to be working together. We all have to do
what we can, like everybody, and nobody's involvement, monetarily or
otherwise voluntary, is too small.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
It's the widow's might, the small donations and the small
acts of kindness that change the world. Like I believe
that every every action, you know, lifts up the whole
human family. And you know, we all do it together.
So but it takes all of us working and doing
what we can to make those miracles.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
So reality, Father Tim, do you love what you do?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
I am the luckiest man in the world.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
I love what I do in the city that I love,
doing the work that I love with the people that
I love.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
So I couldn't, you know, couldn't be more blessed.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
What's your favorite thing about what you do?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
The relationships, you know, the guys that are you know,
come in and just being able to be a part
of their lives and.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Share our faith.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
And you know, some you know guys will come in
and it's a wet, cold morning and I'll say, how
you doing this morning? They're like, I'm blessed and they
mean it to their core. They mean it because they
know that God is. They know we all can believe
we're not dependent on God for a variety of reasons,
but they know their dependency. They know where their blessings
(30:34):
come from, and they they see them and they live
out of that blessing. So they remind me about gratitude
and seeing the blessings of our lives.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Our guest today has been Father Tim McKay president and
CEO of Pro Pope Francis Center. More information on Pope
France the Center can be found at PFC dot org.
Get there. Thanks for joining us, Father Tim, Thank you, Kellen.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
This has been light up the D A Community of
Years program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
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