Serving the Community

Shrine Parish’s Assisted Living/Homebound/Hospital Ministry is an outreach to those who are not able to come to Mass due to health or age reasons.

Volunteer visitors pray with residents and bring Holy Communion to the Assisted Living facilities (Walton Wood, Village of Royal Oak, Royal Oak House, Chester Street Residence, and St. Anne’s Mead). Mass is celebrated by Shrine priests monthly at Walton Wood and Village of Royal Oak.

Communion is brought to the homebound when requested.

Hospital Ministry serves Beaumont Hospital under the guidance of Fr. Jeff Allen, priest and chaplain of the hospital. 

For more information on how to get involved, or to notify the parish of an illness or a need for homebound assistance, contact Paula Dixon, Pastoral Associate at 248-541-4122 ext. 411.

The Christian Service Commission exists as a model and resource of Catholic Social Teaching to enable the entire parish community to put that teaching of the Church into action. The Commission empowers members of the parish to fulfill the Church’s mission of love, justice, freedom, and peace under the mantle of evangelization by communally responding, in an organized way, to societal and individual needs. 

The Commission creates and/or promotes programs that strive to address human needs and achieve justice, whether locally or in the broader communities of vicariate, region, Archdiocese, state, nation, and world.

The Commission meets quarterly, and a representative from each of the ministries listed below attends the meeting. The Chair of the Commission is named every three years.

We invite you to serve our parish in any of the ministries below, which are focused on ways we can grow in Christian service. 

• Disabilities Ministry  
• Funeral Ministry – Servers
• Funeral Luncheons
• Giving Tree
• Hispanic Ministry
• Homebound/Assisted Living
• Jail Ministry
• Ladies Guild
• Legislative Advocacy
• Lending Library
• Mercy in Action
• Mission Ladies
• Parish Nurses
• Pro-Life Ministry
• Resurrection Choir
• Seniors
• Single Parent Support
• Soul Core
• South Oakland Warming Center
• St. Vincent de Paul
• Veterans Ministry
• Welcome Inn

For more information, contact Paula Dixon at [email protected].

Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats offer women healing from the pain of abortion where they can experience the abundant compassion of Jesus Christ. 

Up to 94% of people regret their decision to abort later in life and struggle with painful symptoms of Post Abortive Syndrome. Retreats offer a safe space of healing where men and women can share, often for the first time, their deepest feelings about their past abortion.

The weekend retreats offer an uninterrupted space to engage in grief work. Emotional support, counseling, encouragement, and prayer are available for all participants day and night throughout the duration of the retreat. 

Our retreats offer a unique sensory-based treatment which integrates emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. The healing journey uses creative “Living Scripture Exercises” which engage the mind, body, and soul. Coupled with group activities, therapeutic facilitation, cognitive restructuring, and discussion offers an effective process for grief work grounded in Biblical principles.

During your stay, you are supported by compassionate staff who have attended their own retreats and are uniquely prepared to help you. All of them have been impacted by abortion, and through Rachel’s Vineyard, have found healing and hope.

Contact Detroit Rachel’s Vineyard in English at 248-494-6363 or in Spanish 248-296-9011, or email [email protected] 

Jail Ministry is a group of people who provide bi-weekly evening worship services, bringing the Eucharist to incarcerated men and women.

Meetings take place the first and third Monday of every month from 6:15 - 8:30 pm in the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac, providing services that include music, a Bible Study, and a Communion service. 

In the month of August, volunteers collect backpacks for the children of inmates to provide school supplies. During Advent, the parish participates in the Christmas Packages Program, providing tube socks and bars of soap for inmate gifts, as well as paying for Christmas gift bags, donations, and gift cards.

Other volunteer opportunities include outreach for families of the incarcerated and computer data entry through the Jail Ministry Outreach Office in Pontiac. 

Security procedures are necessary for all volunteers who visit the jails, and background checks are required before joining. Jail Ministry orientation is held once a year and is required for all new volunteers.

For more information please contact Joe Van Hagen at 248-547-1141 or [email protected]. 

Legislative Advocacy brings awareness to the parish community about social justice issues, such as pro-life, immigration, and disability rights. All information presented comes through the Michigan Catholic Conference.

For more information, email [email protected].

The Library is a friendly place to share insights and personal spiritual experiences, to ask questions, and to receive help choosing pertinent materials based on their individual needs. It is also a kind of “Catholic Information Center” to help people learn about other resources available to them. 

Our collection includes over 3,000 books, 450 DVDs and CDs, and offers a free basket of devotional items, such as holy cards, prayer books, and other pamphlets. 

Another gift offered is a changing variety of overflow books and other religious items on the counter in the hall during open library hours, which people are welcome to take home rather than just borrowing. Periodically, Lending Library also sponsors an Open House or Book Fair event, where many more books, DVDs, CDs, and other religious items are available. 

The Lending Library is supported entirely by donations and all money collected is used to buy new books, supplies, and other needed items. Books and CDs can be signed out for three weeks, and DVDs for one week and can be renewed if no one is waiting for them. Materials can be returned to the Lending Library, or to the Parish Office in Heritage Hall. 

People interested in volunteering should have a love for the Church and be well read to be of assistance to visitors.

The library is open to anyone and not restricted to Shrine parishioners only. It is located in Room C of the Conference Center. Hours are Fridays from 9:15 am to noon, and Sundays from 10 am - 2 pm. 

For more information, contact Kathy McGuire at 248-541-6834, or Yvonne Lesiak at 248-544-3808 or [email protected]. Please identify in your message that you are calling about the Lending Library.

Mary’s Children Family Center is a pre-vocational community program where adults with brain injuries/intellectual and developmental disabilities, either from birth or acquired, come for six hours a day to participate in a structured program. 

The Center provides a setting where participants are involved in supervised, self-directed, structured activities with members from the community. The program is designed to improve functional independence and enhance the quality of life for individuals overcoming brain injuries and now living in the community. The program offers academic, physical, occupational, and recreational activities.

Mary’s Children focuses on providing an environment where you feel safe and cared for while enhancing communication tools, assisting you in choosing and achieving your individual goals. Everyone at Mary’s Children is offered a variety of opportunities daily and has the right to choose how they want to spend their day.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, we offer speech classes with the Wayne State University Speech and Language students. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we spend the day with the Chamberlain School of Nursing students. On Wednesday mornings, U of D Jesuit High School students spend their morning with us.

Mary’s Children offers outside building community integration to our students as appropriate in their individual plan of service. Students have the opportunity to choose to participate in these outings.

The program is offered weekdays from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, with lunch included, and is available to all students. Program attendance may range from 1-5 days a week, depending on the needs of the individual.

For more information, contact Lindsey Wichmann at 248-307-0242 or visit maryschildrenfamilycenter.org. 

Mission Ladies Sewing/Quilting Group is an arm of the Ladies Guild whose goal is to support local charities and missions in the spirit of the Little Flower.

Meetings take place the first and third Tuesdays of the month, 10 am - 1 pm in the Conference Center. Using donated materials, Mission Ladies sew, knit, and crochet items, and then list them for sale. Proceeds are donated to community ministries like soup kitchens. 

For more information, contact Joann Dreist at [email protected].

Our Pro-life group meets every Sunday at 5 pm in the Adoration Chapel. For more information, contact Laura Dysarz at [email protected].

With Father Junipero Serra, the great missionary, as their patron, Serra USA was formed in 1935 and promotes vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life. Serra USA aims to help members to recognize and respond to God’s call in their own lives in their own personal walk toward holiness and union with Christ.

For more information, email [email protected]. A volunteer will respond to your email within 24 hours on weekdays, or on Mondays following an inquiry over the weekend. 

Open during the winter season from December-March, 7 am - 7 pm, we drive our guests in our bus to one of the overnight churches belonging to the South Oakland Warming Center (Shrine partners with Berkley Community Church), and then pick them up at 6 am, returning them to the Welcome Inn. SOCH rents the Starr Presbyterian Church in Royal Oak to house the Welcome Inn. 

The Welcome Inn has seven hired staff including an Executive Director, social worker and a bus driver, with over 100 volunteers. We serve three meals per day: breakfast, lunch and a light supper. Our guests receive a complete dinner at the overnight church.  

Our social worker interviews each guest and puts them in touch with the resources necessary to serve their needs. We are a low-barrier day center, meaning we accept anyone 18 years or older as long as they follow our rules.

Some of the support services offered are: clothing from our Clothes Closet, student nurses twice a week, showers at the Royal Oak Y, trips to the laundromat, representatives from agencies such as Social Security and Community Housing Network who speak to guests, informing them of their services. We are also instrumental in helping our guests procure an ID.

Starting in April - October, the Welcome Inn is housed in the Berkley Community Church, Berkley.  We are open every Tuesday 9:30 am - 2 pm where breakfast and lunch are served.  Our staff, plus volunteers, serve our guests, and an Oakland County nurse is available.  Showers and clothes are offered on site.  

Financial assistance is mainly from churches, individuals, a Family Foundation and fundraising events.

For more information, contact [email protected].

The South Oakland Warming Center is a ministry part of the broader South Oakland Citizens for the Homeless, run by a group of several churches who house the homeless of South Oakland county during the coldest months of the year, December - March. The Warming Center provides safety, warmth, food, and resources within a welcoming Christian community.

The Shrine has over 500 volunteers who serve over a two-week period to both shelter and feed the homeless at Berkley Community Church. 

For more information, contact Pat Rozanski at [email protected].  

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a group of volunteers who meet and respond to those in need of food, clothing, housing, and other essentials. The members meet at 7 pm every first and third Monday of the month.

Guided by a Pastoral Associate as a spiritual guide, Vincentians are committed to spiritual growth in loving and serving the poor, and meet with those who come for assistance, providing the appropriate resources. 

A clothing drive is conducted every year in the fall, and members also manage the Parish Food Pantry.

For more information, contact or more information, contact [email protected]. 

St. Paul Street Evangelization is a grassroots non-profit evangelization organization, dedicated to responding to the mandate of Jesus to preach the Gospel to all nations. Volunteers do this in a relational way, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide their interactions on the street, providing an avenue for them to share Jesus Christ with others.

Our approach is to:

• Listen - Take the time to get to know someone. Discover how Christ is already working in them.
• Befriend - Show others that they are valued and loved. People don't care what you know until they know that you care.
• Proclaim - Share the story of salvation with joy, enthusiasm, and power.
• Invite - Ask them to pray and open their hearts to Jesus Christ and invite them to some kind of follow-up opportunity.

For more information, visit www.streetevangelization.com.