IN THE NEWS!

"Pachelbel's Canon heretofore had never made me cry before, until I heard Isaac play it for me," sings Brother Al Mascia.

The brown-robed Franciscan friar is singing a song he wrote about a young homeless man. Before a small but rapt audience, he's strumming his guitar on the altar of Sacred Heart Church on Grosse Ile, hoping his stories and songs will help suburbanites understand the mission of St. Aloysius Outreach Center and Canticle Cafe in downtown Detroit.

For the past 17 years, the Franciscan friars of St. Aloysius have run the outreach center for the poor and homeless on Washington Blvd., just a block away from the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. Here, homeless folks and senior citizens living on the edge -- about 300 a day -- can get breakfast served by volunteer baristas, pick up toiletries, groceries and clothing, watch a movie, use the Internet, find counseling, get medical help from a nurse practitioner, take GED and literacy classes, and even participate in a poetry slam.

It's a pretty upscale place for a "soup kitchen," and that was the intent two years ago when the friars changed the name from St. Aloysius Warming Center to Canticle Cafe, spruced up the environment and installed computers. The changes, says Brother Al, were meant to "suggest a more inviting and dignified environment for the poor, the needy, the homeless."

All this takes volunteers -- and money. Since its beginnings, the center has been subsidized by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. But recently the economic picture has changed and, while the archdiocese still will donate the use of the building across the street from St. Aloysius Church, it can no longer afford to pay for utilities and maintenance, which amount to a whopping $200,000 a year.

This means a big headache for Brother Al, who has the task of fundraising to keep the center afloat. He's come up with some very creative ideas to keep everyone's head above water, selling some wares and his own talent in the effort.

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First, he sells shade-grown, fair trade coffee from Chiapas, Mexico. Canticle Cafe blend is roasted in Livonia by Perk and Brew and packaged by volunteers in a little room upstairs from the cafe. Buying it helps the cafe and the indigenous growers.

The upper room also houses a little operation where volunteers melt used church candles and pour the wax into clear jars with a girdle of knotted cord resembling the belts monks wear and -- voila -- Friar Lights.

But Brother Al is also a talented musician who writes songs inspired by the seniors and homeless people he meets at Canticle Cafe. In a stroke of fundraising genius, he decided to take his guitar and amplifier on the road -- along with his pushcart full of coffee, Friar Lights, T-shirts and CDs -- to suburban parishes, where he hopes his concerts will move people to dig deep in their pockets to help the downtown friars continue their good work.

With three CDs under his knotted belt, Brother Al feels closely connected to Franciscan friars of the Middle Ages called minstrels of God (the Latin term is joculatore domini), who traveled Europe singing and preaching the philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of their religious order.

"I can tell stories, I think, better through songs," says the friar. "I am able to provide those who attend the concerts a little bit of insight into the lives of those we serve here.

"The little songs serve as windows into these lives to help personalize our ministry and to humanize those who are so frequently de-humanized and marginalized by our society. So songs with the names of people we serve are one of my favorite things to do."

Brother Al's music and other products are available at the Catholic Book Store, 1232 Washington Blvd., Detroit, and Faith@Work, 1977 E. Wattles Road, Troy.