The 2021 Spirit of Innovation Grant was awarded to St. Aloysius/Our Lady of the Rosary community in Detroit for their Outreach and Mission Hub project. The focus of the project is to create a space for young adults to grow and flourish through the partnership of Detroit Catholic Campus Ministry and Young Adult events through St. Aloysius Parish.

The grant project hopes to develop an underutilized courtyard space between the church and rectory into a gathering space with seating, bonfire pit, yard games, overhead lighting, and dining tables to create a Mission Hub Outdoor Gathering Space. The goal is for the space to be an attractive, eye-catching place of radical hospitality, a place for friendships to be formed and fostered, and a place of invitation to a relationship with Jesus. Part of this re-envisioned mission is to connect “un-churched” or lapsed Catholic millennials in the area to a life of faith, worship, and community.

In addition, the project hopes to support the senior citizen population served through St. Aloysius Neighborhood Services by offering them a chance to cultivate their passion for gardening and foster intergenerational collaboration through hosting a dinner for seniors, served by young adults, and gardening opportunities for seniors and young adults to work together.

“We are so grateful to the Catholic Foundation of Michigan for awarding us the Spirit of Innovation Grant for our Outdoor Mission Hub at Our Lady of the Rosary church. We will be creating an outdoor space in the courtyard for community gatherings, Bible studies, and a place for our seniors to garden,” shared Fr. Mario Amore, pastor of both St. Aloysius Parish, Detroit and Our Lady of the Rosary Parish.

Learn more about this inspired project by watching the video below.