Colleen McDonough surveyed the crowd assembling for the weekly Lunch in the Park program on the lawn of Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She spotted one man sitting by himself eating what might be his only meal of the day and she headed right to him with the most basic of questions: “How are you doing?”
He smiled and said simply, “I’m good. You talked to me.”
It was a small exchange, Yet, for McDonough, it captures the heart of her vocation. “It was just a simple thing to look him in the face and notice that he was there and to brighten his day,” she said. “Often, we might be the only people who do that.”
As program director of Christ in the City Philadelphia, McDonough leads a group of young Catholic missionaries who walk the city’s streets, not merely to hand out food or clothing, but to build relationships with those living in homelessness. The encounters are simple—asking a name, talking about sports or the weather and, mostly, listening. But over time these encounters become something more – even something sacred.
The aim is relationship in a ministry that she said answers not only material needs but also a “poverty of loneliness.”
Missionaries of Christian Encounter and Friendship
As part of the mission of Christ in the City, founded in Denver and now present in Philadelphia, young adults serve one or two years, live in community, and go forth into the city. The approach is built on consistency and friendship featuring the same faces, the same corners, the same invitations to conversation.
Missionaries commit for one or two years in Philadelphia or Denver. “They commit to walking the streets of those cities in small teams and walking them consistently five times a week, to encounter the same people who are living there,” McDonough said. “The hope is always to build relationship.”
That relationship starts simply. “Just walking by and asking, how’s your day going? What’s your name? Sharing my name with them, asking what their interests are and what brings them joy,” she said. “Those are often the conversations that we have on the streets, and then they lead to more.”
McDonough comes from a Catholic family in New Hampshire that modeled service to the poor. “We definitely grew up with the attitude of loving your neighbor whoever that neighbor may be,” she said. “Both my parents taught that to me. Just through their actions and the experiences that they were able to invite me into.”
In college she encountered Christ in the City, served a 2020 summer, then worked two years as a missionary before becoming the program director three years ago.
Giving and Receiving
The biggest surprise in mission? “Realizing how little we have to give and how much we have to receive,” McDonough said. “When I first came to Christ in City, I came very enthusiastic in giving, providing, and taking care of the poor. Little did I know just how much they were going to give me.”
She recalled one friend on the street named Marie who was living on a bench in Center City Philadelphia. “At the time, I didn’t really have a relationship with Mary [the Blessed Mother] in my faith and in my spiritual life,” McDonough said. “Little did I know that Marie was going to be the turning point for that.”
Even on hard days, Marie would leave her with the same parting words: “Mary is your mother. She loves you.”
“Maybe our conversation wasn’t always very coherent, but then that’s where she left us,” McDonough said. “I was able to take that back to the house with me and take it to the chapel, and pray about, and let that really soak in.”
‘Surrounded in prayer’
Of course, despair is a common temptation in this work given how much the missionaries witness on the streets.
“That’s why this life has to be surrounded in prayer,” she said. “There are definitely moments when the intensity is very overwhelming and really pierces us.”
Each day ends in the chapel where missionaries bring their encounters before God. “That’s where we let the Lord really speak.”
Jakob Klepsch Contra, a missionary from Berlin, said McDonough’s leadership helps them stay centered. “Colleen loves her job,” he said. “When there are good moments, she rejoices with us. Seeing that helps us remember why it’s worth continuing.”
What sets Christ in the City apart, McDonough said, is the focus on relationships. She recalled being told something critical about Christ in the City’s weekly Lunch in the Park at the Cathedral: “If it becomes about the food, then we’re going to stop doing it.”
In other words, the meal is a means, not the end. “It’s all meant to be very familial and very much an emotional support, a spiritual support for our friends rather than just providing material needs,” she said.
Community life and formation shape the missionaries as much as street ministry. The missionaries have a schedule Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. The day is bookended by the Liturgy of the Hours. They go to daily Mass and a Holy Hour and share communal meals together. Besides their work on the streets, they take on jobs to support the mission and learn about Christian formation, theology, and accompaniment.
‘Tyree is So Loved’
She also reminds them how small acts become graces. She remembered visiting a hospitalized friend she had met on the streets on Thanksgiving while serving in Denver.
“It wasn’t anything substantial,” she said. “But just being there in such a particular moment of suffering on a day when most people are gathered with family and close friends… I remember just realizing that this is all worth it.”
Another moment came in Philadelphia with a friend named Tyree who often held up a sign asking for food.
“One of my street team partners is a very bold woman,” McDonough said. “We found cardboard and a sharpie, and she wrote, ‘Tyree is so loved.’ And then we held that sign on the side of the road. I remember thinking that this is ridiculous standing on the sidewalk holding a sign that really wasn’t helping anybody. But it was totally worth it just for a little smile and a little moment of joy for our dear friend.”
Her conviction about the Church’s call is plain.
“I think helping the poor is the best thing we can do,” she said. “This is our call as Catholics and as Christians — to be with the least among us.
“It’s never a waste to spend time with the poor, to meet Christ in them, and to let them meet Christ in us as well.”
‘Hope Comes From Christ’
Klepsch Contra, the missionary from Berlin who joined Christ in the City in August 2024, said he was drawn to this ministry because “for Catholics, it is deeply connected to our faith.” The slow work of relationship building reveals real change. He told of a friend they met last November: “We just started to become good friends,” he said. One day at Reading Terminal Market, the man looked at the missionaries and said, “You guys really make me feel human again.’”
He described McDonough’s leadership with affection. “Colleen is a very goofy, serious, professional,” he said. “When it comes to important moments, she can be very serious and come to the point.”
For McDonough, the source of that perseverance is clear and it sustains her and the team of missionaries who, day after day, walk Philadelphia’s streets with prayer and presence.
“The hope definitely comes from Christ,” she said. “Sometimes it’s easier to despair with our friends, but we’re there to try to be Christ to them, and a way that we can do that is definitely being able to provide a little bit of hope in whatever situation we find them in.”
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Faces of Hope is a series of stories and videos highlighting the work of those who make the Catholic Church of Philadelphia the greatest force for good in the region. To learn more about a new way forward for the Church of Philadelphia, visit TrustandHope.org. If you know someone you’d like to see featured, please reach out to editor@catholicphilly.com.
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