TUCKED under roller doors on an industrial block, through a COVID-19 hygiene checkpoint, is a Catholic Mass centre that doubles as a sanctuary for Brisbane’s homeless and vulnerable people.
For Roby Curtis, it was a vision for what churches could look like.
Volunteers carry meals back and forth across the nave, showers and amenities for transepts, cushioned pews where people could sleep, and washers and dryers across from the tabernacle where a group of five adorers prayed before the Blessed Sacrament.
“I believe this environment is a place of holiness,” Emmanuel City Mission director Roby Curtis said as the regulars flocked in as the lunch service was set up.
“I see what I’m told are criminals at the front door who are very violent and dangerous and walk in here as people with eloquence and behaving with the highest levels of respect.
“We point everything towards its Maker and its Author we know as Jesus; we believe this is a holy place.”
Over the last few years, the site on Merivale Street in South Brisbane has transformed from a “trendy homeless shelter” to an active Mass centre, where the Emmanuel Community gathers for Sunday Mass each week.
It was clear when people walked in the door that this place is a Catholic mission, Mr Curtis said, but you will “meet our kindness before you’ll meet our ritual”.
Mr Curtis said setting up the shelter was never about an interest in homeless services on his part, instead it was about trying to connect to people “because we don’t want to see anybody with no sense of self-worth”.
The Emmanuel City Mission team has taken this idea one step further through a partnership with St Vincent’s Care Services, which has been sending a nurse out to the site once a week as part of their social accountability program.
St Vincent’s Care Services mission leader Troy Tornabene said the organisation had sent a donation to ECM as part of its program last year but this year had sought out ways to build a relationship with the outreach services they supported.
The community nurse project formed from the following conversations with Mr Curtis and his team, he said.
St Vincent’s community care nurse Melissa Evans, who has been visiting the shelter in four-hour windows on Tuesdays for the last few months, said the outreach mission to the shelter provided support to people who might not want to approach traditional nursing support or go to hospital for varying reasons.
She said many of the people she has seen have a lot of pressure areas and blisters as well as cases of diabetes and high blood pressure.
A significant challenge that nurses have when treating people experiencing homelessness is gaining trust, she said.
“Building rapport is really important,” she said.
“Some people are not wanting to tell you the truth, which can be really hard, so we are just trying to maintain a no-judgment zone.”
The project had been labelled a success by everyone involved.
Mr Tornabene said while the nurse support was a pilot project set for an initial six months, they had every intention to continue based on the response they had received.
He said the need being reported had increased as time went on, which was a strong indicator that a level of trust was being formed between Ms Evans and the people accessing the service.
Mr Tornabene said the project was “right at the heart of who we are as an organisation”.
“Our mission is to bring God’s love through the healing ministry of Jesus to all those in need,” he said.
“I think that’s the driving force behind our social accountability program is that we need to go out beyond our four walls and look at the ways in which we can continue the legacy of Mary Aikenhead.”
Mr Curtis said the response from the people accessing the nursing service had been positive and there was typically a high level of respect for healthcare workers.
The nursing program formed part of a broader approach by ECM to address the needs voiced by the people they serve.
“It’s all about need – if I hear people asking for something enough, then we’ll respond,” Mr Curtis said.
He said other needs like legal advice and housing support were ever-present, and if solutions to those needs became available, he would pursue them “for sure”.
Other services had already been running like drug and alcohol support services and counselling services.
Ultimately, Mr Curtis said he would like to secure the ownership of the building and move towards 24-hour seven days a week service.
He and his team had already piloted a 24-hour service over Christmas, running for five days and four nights, which he said had been a “powerful experience”.
“It was a really unique way of making that time at Christmas special,” he said.
“It really points to where we want to be going and who we are, which is 24-hours and that real feeling of shelter.”
