MICHIGAN CITY – Brad Pike recalled how he joined a fraternity in college in search of community and friendship. After realizing fraternity life didn’t fill the void, he soon learned of an opportunity which more than filled the empty space within – Christ in the City.
“Christ in the City is a great community of young Catholics who want to serve and grow closer to the Lord,” said Pike. “It was so transformative for me to build real friendships that felt authentic and vulnerable. It gave me life.”
Pike, 22 years old from St. Louis, was part of a five-person missionary team from the Denver-based organization on May 18. Other members included Andy Fischter, 24, Julie Kelnhofer, 24, of Milwaukee; Hailey Prevost, 22, of Lafayette, LA; and Michigan City native Luke Salyer, 27 years old.
This is the third year Christ in the City has sent a group to the Diocese of Gary. The majority of their time has been encountering friends on the streets and shelters in Gary. The team has also spent time in Michigan City.
Dr. Jonathan Reyes founded Christ in the City in 2010, a program that would form young people to “think with the Church” on the issues of the time, while at the same time putting that faith into action: loving our brothers and sisters in the streets. Christ in the City kicked off in 2011 with 15 young adults who committed themselves to living in community, learning about their Catholic faith and serving the poor in the Denver area.
In summer 2019, missionary teams were sent out to five new cities to lead three-week summer programs.
Missionaries walk the same street routes Monday through Friday, building friendships with the homeless, bringing love where there is no love, bringing relationships where they do not exist. And in doing so, re-cultivating a foundation in someone to have hope.
Christ in the City “forms young adults to understand the fullness of the Catholic faith and to know God and love Him and to know they are loved by Him.” Missionaries deepen their relationship with Christ through personal prayer, Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours and spiritual direction.
Fischter talked about the discipline he learned coming from a military family and how the same discipline attracted him to Christ in the City, something he said is very important. “My time in Christ in the City has taught me to be more childlike and how joyful being Catholic can be.”
“I’m a completely different person than I was. I’m becoming the man God created me to be through this whole experience,” said Pike. “The main thing is being able to love the person in front of me and see them as a child of God. Now after going to the streets and serving the homeless, being in relationship with them, being in relationship with community, I've learned what it means to sacrifice my wants, my needs, to give myself in sacrificial love as we’re called to do as Christians.”
Working with the poor has been ingrained in Prevost’s heart since she participated in a mission trip to Puerto Rico at age 14. During her junior year of college, she found out about Christ in the City. She said the first year has been “really, really hard, but incredible. It’s changed my heart a lot. I’ve come to know the poor and love them a lot.”
Prevost said living with 32 others in a community has been an awakening. She described how within the community they are always surrounded by others, regardless of if it’s a good or bad day, “you’re seen in a raw state, so vulnerable, but you can’t hide it. You’re really loved.”
“I’ve become very in touch with my poverty, so when I go out onto the streets, I realize there’s not much difference between me and them. It’s helped me love them more,” Prevost shared.
In her first year of being a missionary, Kelnhofer shared her experiences of joy, humility and poverty. She said there’s as much joy in community life being around 32 brothers and sisters striving for heaven as there is in the streets with friends.
“With friends, you learn to have a listening ear. Friends are people to walk through this life with, enjoy sitting and spending time with them,” said Kelnhofer.
Kelnhofer shared how sometimes no words are needed. “I think the world can be changed through a smile. The power of smiling at your neighbor, the person on the street, wherever, can have an impact farther than any of us know.”
The group stressed an encounter is more than a Christ in the City missionary and the person on the street. “This mission is for everybody. You don’t have to wear Christ in the City shirt. It’s not applicable to just homeless individuals. It’s transferable to other people in your life like coworkers, fellow students, family members,” said Salyer.
A recently released documentary, “Homeless But Human”, was shown during two screenings in the Diocese of Gary, at St. Teresa of Avila and Queen of All Saints.
“It was awesome,” said Sheryll Werner.
Werner was one of nearly 50 people who watched the documentary about the work and mission of Christ in the City, compellingly telling the story of the missionaries, staff, alumni and – most importantly – those they serve. The audience joins the missionaries into their experience of walking the streets, encountering the poor and accompanying them in their particular circumstances.
The documentary shared the stories of five homeless and formerly homeless Denverites impacted by Christ in the City missionaries, including a woman referred to as Mama Jerri.
“Just knowing that you guys love me and that you’re just there…it’s a great feeling,” said Mama Jerri, a long-time friend of Christ in the City. “It fills my heart. I thank the Big Guy every night for you guys. Every night before I go to bed, I say, ‘Thank you. Thank you for putting these kids in my life.’”
Those watching the film were left impacted as well.
“To see someone who was on the streets with very little hope, who didn’t have hope in themselves, who lost their way and slowly begin to trust and develop friendships… and eventually have a home of their own and to regain their identity, it was really beautiful and it made me want to cry, said Werner.
For more information on Christ in the City, visit christinthecity.org.