Along with the successful Source of All Hope ministry in place since 2019 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Baltimore City will soon have another new urban ministry: Gift of All Truth.
While Source of All Hope involves young urban missionaries reaching out to people experiencing homelessness, poverty and addiction on city streets, Gift of All Truth will focus on sharing the love of Christ with youths in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The program will be based at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland, whose staff is working along with the basilica and the archdiocese’s Institute for Evangelization to start the new venture.
“We realized we needed to think bigger about creating a missionary footprint in the City of Baltimore, establishing a base for missionary life that would allow us to increase the size of our community, incentivize the creation of a sound formation program and create the kind of hub for missionary life in the city that would attract young adults from across the country to serve in Baltimore,” said Father Brendan Fitzgerald, basilica rector.
Youth outreach in the city seemed a “perfect way” to expand the church’s missionary footprint as a natural outgrowth of Source of All Hope, he said.
Gift and Source missionaries will live together on the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas in Hampden, thanks to a facilities-lease agreement granted by the archdiocese to both programs.The convent and rectory are being renovated with the help of volunteers.
Source of All Hope missionaries are in the process of moving to the Hampden property (men in the rectory and women in the convent) from a previous residence near the basilica. They will be joined by Gift of All Truth missionaries once recruited, along with new missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students who are coming to minister at Johns Hopkins University this year.
Archbishop William E. Lori appointed Father Louis Bianco to serve as administrator of St. Thomas Aquinas effective July 1, adding to his previous duties as rector of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Father Bianco will tend to the day-to-day operations and spiritual life of both parishes while overseeing Gift of All Truth.
“If we can reach the youths to convince them that having God and faith in their lives is necessary if they want to be fulfilled in life, then that will benefit not only them but this entire local church of Baltimore,” Father Bianco said.
“Charm City Catholic” is the name the co-cathedrals are using to brand the missionary programs.
“We’re really doing something new here, something that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the church in America, so far as I know,” Father Fitzgerald said. “When we go to national events to recruit, we want people to see that there is something very good happening in Baltimore City. Two cathedrals, the archdiocese, local parishes and schools, all coming together to bring Christ to those in need – that is Charm City Catholic.”
There are currently four Source of All Hope missionaries for the year ahead. The goal is to have 10-12 Source missionaries and 10-12 Gift missionaries in a few years.
Gift of All Truth will recruit for missionaries, age 18-30, at local and national events, college campus ministries and local parishes. Staff from the cathedrals and the Institute for Evangelization will train the missionaries in their work. The primary emphasis at the program’s start will be in the city, though Father Fitzgerald said Gift of All Truth is open to growth in other parts of the archdiocese.
Father Fitzgerald estimates a yearly program cost for both Source and Gift of $400,000 that must be sourced through fundraising.
Gift of All Truth officially launches in the summer of 2024. The initial focus will be on Mother Mary Lange Catholic School in Baltimore, with a plan to get into the classrooms, meet parents and students, and host a retreat.
“We want to help create long-term relationships with youths in our city that draw them into a deeper relationship with Christ and his church,” Father Fitzgerald said.
For more information, visit giftofalltruth.org
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