Young Catholic missionaries bring hope to Baltimore’s homeless population

A tattooed man clutching a cardboard sign with “HOMELESS!” scrawled in block letters broke into a wide grin as Erin Kelter and Daniel Otto approached the corner of Greene and West Lombard streets in downtown Baltimore April 14.

Moments earlier, Keith Quigg – a mustachioed man in his early 40s wearing a gray knit cap despite the unseasonably sweltering heat – had been asking passersby for spare change. Most hurried past without so much as a glance.

Now, spotting the two missionaries, Quigg lit up. He wrapped his arms around them in a happy group hug, telling them how good it was to see them.

Kelter and Otto are Catholic urban missionaries with Source of All Hope, a ministry based at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore. To them, Quigg is not a stranger on a street corner, but a friend they know by name.

They lingered, talking easily amid the hum of traffic, and offered him a fresh pair of socks and a bottle of water. Then, hands joined, the trio bowed their heads and prayed together on the sidewalk.

“A lot of people, you know, they might give me a dollar or this or that,” Quigg said, “but they give me love. It means a lot.”

That kind of encounter is at the heart of Source of All Hope. For a year, participants live in community, walk the streets and form relationships with people experiencing homelessness.

For Quigg, those moments of connection stand in contrast to years of hardship. He has lived on the streets for about eight years, a period he traced to a car accident that killed his longtime girlfriend – and the legal consequences that followed.

“She died in this hospital,” Quigg said, gesturing toward the University of Maryland Medical Center towering over the intersection where he now panhandles. “Nine months after the funeral, my daughter called me and said that they charged me with the accident because I was speeding. After that, I just kind of went downhill from there.”

A ministry of presence

Founded seven years ago on the basilica’s patronal feast day of Aug. 15, Source of All Hope invites young adults from across the country to experience missionary service. Participants regularly walk Baltimore’s streets, building relationships and seeking to share the love of God through personal presence.

They are not social workers or medical professionals. Their mission is rooted instead in prayer, the Eucharist, formation and community life – a foundation that sends them out to encounter Christ in those they meet, one conversation, one prayer and one friendship at a time.

Father Brendan Fitzgerald, rector of the Baltimore Basilica, said the program has grown quickly, with more than 50 young men and women having already served.

“The basilica is really a unique parish for mission and evangelization and engagement with the homeless,” Father Fitzgerald said. “Other bishops have been reaching out, asking for some help on how to establish similar programs in their dioceses.”

Source of All Hope recently received a financial boost with a $2 million gift from the Sulpicians, a society of priests who run St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park and who have assigned a seminarian to serve in the Source ministry. The Sulpician gift complements $1 million the basilica is raising for the program as part of a wider $10 million campaign known as “A Legacy of Light, A Living Inheritance.”

There are currently six missionaries, evenly divided between men and women. Last year, they relocated their residence from the now-closed St. Thomas Aquinas campus in Hampden to the former convent of St. Wenceslaus in East Baltimore, where the Missionaries of Charity had operated the now-closed Gift of Hope AIDS hospice for many years. The Missionaries of Charity have shifted their community ministry to the streets surrounding the former St. Benedict in Southwest Baltimore.

Formation

Missionaries receive formation similar to seminarians, Father Fitzgerald said. They undergo psychological screening before acceptance into the program and meet monthly with priests who serve as their spiritual directors. In addition, they are assigned formation advisors who help them monitor their progress.

Missionaries raise financial support from donors to cover their living expenses during their year of service, relying on both financial assistance and the prayers of supporters. 

Kelter, a 24-year-old from Charlotte, N.C. who previously worked as a college missionary with FOCUS, said it’s precisely the spiritual grounding of the program – daily Mass, holy hours, praying the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet – that gives the missionaries grace to do their work.

“We couldn’t do this without Jesus, the source of all hope,” said the graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Otto, a 36-year-old parishioner of St. Leo in Little Italy, came to the ministry by an unlikely road. An Ohio native who built a career in politics across the country before relocating to Baltimore to work for a public affairs firm, his work took a toll on him and left him wanting to do something more meaningful. He eventually felt called to the priesthood and is now a seminarian at St. Mary’s Seminary. His time with Source of All Hope serves as his propaedeutic year – a period of spiritual and human formation that seminarians complete before beginning their formal theological studies.

Otto, a graduate of Miami University in Ohio, said the missionaries’ daily rhythm begins and ends with prayer, shaping how they encounter others.

“I found myself on more than one occasion saying things that Daniel Otto a year ago would never have had the wisdom to say,” he said, noting that he is especially conscious of offering spiritual support to people on the street who may be in despair.

The work can be challenging. Many people they meet struggle with addiction or mental illness, and Otto said the missionaries are trained to use Narcan in case they encounter anyone experiencing a drug overdose. They never give out money, nor do they go into the field alone.

Missionaries direct people requesting material help to Catholic Charities or other agencies. They also invite those open to it to join them for Mass at the basilica or accept rosaries as gifts. Their work dovetails with a similar street ministry by four Sisters Poor of Jesus Christ stationed at the basilica. Together, they also offer a weekly meal ministry.

Lessons from the margins

Before heading out on their walks – each several miles long – missionaries gather in an upper room of the basilica’s Sexton’s Lodge Café, located just upstairs from a space where guests experiencing homelessness and parishioners alike gather twice a week for coffee, conversation and community.

There, a large crucifix is surrounded by cardboard signs bearing the names of 36 people they have known who died while living on the streets. The missionaries remember them in prayer and add new names when they learn of others who have died.

For Greg Patros, a 19-year-old high school graduate and Source missionary from St. Paul, Minn., encounters with people facing sometimes insurmountable struggles have reshaped his perspective.

“What’s been really impactful for me is just the amount of times I’ve heard our friends say they are just grateful to wake up and be alive,” Patros said. “They don’t take anything for granted. Everything they have is a gift from God. It makes me look back on my life and think about what I’m taking for granted.”

Christ’s presence can be felt in the smiles of those they encounter, according to Yasier Herrera, a 23-year-old missionary from Pennsylvania.

“I like to see how Jesus reflects himself in their eyes,” said the graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg.

Returning to the corner

Back at Greene and Lombard, Kelter and Otto said their prayer with Quigg centered on gratitude and perseverance.

“We interceded for him and asked the Father to bless him – knowing his heart, his desires, his wants, especially out here on the street – and to pour out the grace to carry him through another day,” Kelter said.

Quigg called his friends “good people.” Faith, he said, sustains him.

“I live out here on the streets, but I’m blessed by God,” he said. “He makes sure I’m OK.”

For more information, visit sourceofallhope.org

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Also see

Renewal underway at Baltimore Basilica

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is back in 2026 — with a patriotic twist and a stop in Baltimore

Echoes of Eternity: Mahler and Duruflé in concert at Baltimore Basilica

D-A-N-G-E-R: Ouija board, whose history is deeply rooted in Baltimore, isn’t innocent fun

Archbishop Lori named honorary custodian of Baltimore Basilica

Radio Interview: Sexton’s Lodge Café fosters fellowship with people experiencing homelessness

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