This morning I was bicycling from Nazareth Home to a mass at St. William Church. It was in the low 40ºs and when I passed the old chancery office, there were 20-25 men and women, a couple in wheelchairs, sitting on the curb wrapped in whatever clothes and blankets they have. They had spent the night outside on the street because there were no shelters spaces open. They had to be really cold and hungry and it made me think what the church, what I should be doing to help them.
Then when I saw the bulletin of St. Frances of Rome church, where I ended up attending mass, I was pleased to see a notice about RITI, Room In The Inn, a program started in Nashville by a Catholic priest who let street people sleep in his church building on really cold nights. The program has now spread to other cities, including Bardstown, Lexington, and Bowling Green in Kentucky. St. Frances of Rome is going to meet this week to discuss expanding a trial program started in January this year in Louisville. Go, St. Frances of Rome!