Pope Francis to spend time with D.C.'s 'most vulnerable'

WASHINGTON — A van pulls up in front of Catholic Charities around 4 p.m. on a sticky afternoon. Strolling tourists and harried office workers spill down the sidewalk past a few of the city’s needy sitting on a bench with a “homeless Jesus” statue, waiting for something to eat.

“Together let us do something beautiful for God,” read the words of Mother Teresa emblazoned in green on the side of the white St. Maria’s Meals van.

Within 45 minutes, tents are erected, food trays positioned and a couple hundred of Catholic Charities’ clients — most living in shelters or on D.C. streets — line up for what might be their only meal on this late-summer day.

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On Sept. 24, some of those clients may be among the ones chosen to share a meal with a man who famously embraces the less fortunate: Pope Francis.

It is only natural that Francis would want to stop at Catholic Charities and meet with people on the margins, says Monsignor John Enzler, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington since 2011. “The church is where you go on Sunday,” but the pope wants people to “experience” their faith every day, he says. The pope is coming to Catholic Charities “to spend time with the most vulnerable.”

The pope is scheduled to visit Catholic Charities on the third day of the Washington leg of his U.S. trip after a stop at St. Patrick Catholic Church next door. The visit by a pope is the first since Catholic Charities’ Washington office opened its doors in 1922. Catholic Charities USA is the largest private network of social service groups in the nation.

On the day of the pope’s visit, the charity’s St. Maria’s Meals, which offers three weekly food programs in the Washington area, planned to have 55 tables set up for the poor and homeless to be served lunch as the pope blesses the food and walks among them.

The pope’s devotion to the poor is well-documented. In May, he welcomed 150 homeless people from St. Peter’s Square into the Vatican for a guided tour, dinner and prayers at the Sistine Chapel. The pope spends time with people on the street so they can say “I have dignity. I have hope. … I feel affirmed,” Enzler says.

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Enzler, who calls the pope his “role model,” is equally passionate about helping the destitute. In 1999, he joined a one-month service project in Calcutta, India, with Mother Teresa’s order at the Kalighat Home for the Dying, an abandoned Hindu temple the legendary missionary turned into a hospice in the heart of the slums.

Mother Teresa said “we are not trying to convert people. We want to give them dignity while they are dying,” says Enzler, who helped the residents with laundry, meals, bathing and medication.

One night, when he went upstairs to bless some of the workers at bedtime, he saw the nuns sleeping with what little they owned: two saris and a small shoebox of personal items by their sides. “They had nothing, but how joyful they were.” The experience had a profound effect he still feels today. “My job is to be a shepherd of those in need,” he says.

Enzler offers smiles and encouraging words to St. Maria’s Meals clients lining up for Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, cookies, lemonade and juice, a menu that changes weekly. Most of the food is prepared by Catholic Charities staff. Social service agencies, Panera Bread and a few private individuals also contribute.

St. Maria’s Meals, named for 12th-century Spanish peasant woman devoted to feeding the hungry, began offering more than 300 meals every Wednesday evening at the downtown D.C. location two years ago. Since then, two more programs have been added: dinner at Camp Springs, Md., on Tuesdays for low-income residents and a Friday morning breakfast in Silver Spring, Md., for day laborers.

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In the fall, Enzler says, Catholic Charities plans to start a movable van to deliver meals, blankets and coats on the streets of D.C.

Beyond meals, many of the charity’s 64 programs in Washington and five surrounding counties in Maryland target homelessness, from emergency shelters to transitional and affordable housing. Among other programs: legal services, medical and dental care, and employment training.

One of those served by St. Maria’s Meals is Bingo Livingston, 38, a Baltimore native who has lived in D.C. shelters for three years.

Rising out of homelessness “is a process,” says Livingston, who works selling hot dogs to baseball fans at Nationals Park. “It should not be like this: People sleeping in parks and on benches.” He says he hopes the pope’s visit puts a spotlight on the issue.

The pope “is a God-sent man,” says client Mark Gross, 57, who says he would love to “get a blessing” from Francis.

“I gave up. I thought ‘I am going to die on the street,’” says Gross, who was able to break a 15-year cycle of homelessness with the help of a local church and “giving my life to Christ.” He moved into an apartment five months ago and is starting a new job doing kitchen work at a hotel.

About two weeks before the pope’s arrival, Enzler planned to spend the night with the homeless in a city shelter as his pledge for #WalkWithFrancis, a campaign by the Washington Archdiocese and Catholic Charities to encourage 100,000 people in the community to do Francis-like acts of charity in the run-up to his visit.

Chronic homelessness is the No. 1 issue that Catholic Charities faces in Washington, Enzler says. The charity will never turn anyone away. “There are no closed doors,” he says.

For Livingston, his dream is simple: “To turn my own key.”

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