Christian Outreach Ministries
“Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?”
- Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Christian Outreach Ministries help us to live lives of mercy and to fulfill our baptismal call as we serve others who are in need of physical, emotional, or spiritual aid. If you have questions about a Christian Outreach ministry, please contact the ministry leader listed or the Commission Ministry Head, Amanda Reilly, at PC-ChristianOutreach@olachurch.org.
Within the OLA Community
Body & Soul Ministry
The Body and Soul ministry organizes the parish blood drives, health fairs, and performs fundraisers for healthcare issues such as cancer and food allergy research. Sara Sullivan, sara.b.sullivan@icloud.com; Jennifer Dempsey, jenndempsey55@gmail.com
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, founded by Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882. This Catholic organization for men is devoted to fundraising in support of many activities in and around the parish; specific areas of activities are church, school, community, youth, and pro-life. Doug Susco, koc@olachurch.org
Ministry of Care
Parishioners bring the Word of God and the Eucharist on a weekly basis to the sick, elderly in hospitals or care centers or those who are home-bound. Special training is required in addition to being a trained Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist. Lee Killian, 1LeeKillian@gmail.com
Funeral Reception Ministry
The OLA Funeral Reception Ministry provides funeral reception services that include food preparation, set-up, service, and clean-up in support of family and friends as they comfort one another following a funeral Mass. We have many volunteer options available to fit your time schedule. Communication is by e-mail, and we use Signup Genius to request stewards for the different volunteer needs. You can pick an item or spot to fill if you are available to help. Sharon Bowman, sharon.bowman@comcast.net
Loaves and Fishes
Volunteers provide meals, on request, to families with new babies, those that are sick or hospitalized, families that have experienced a death, and individuals or families experiencing other hardships. Volunteers are also occasionally asked to assist with food preparation or donation for special parish events. Gwen Brannon, Loaves-Fishes@olachurch.org
Stephen Ministers
Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one care giving ministry. After training you will show God's mercy, care and compassion to someone who is facing difficulties in their life. We are grounded in Jesus's command to love one another. Paul Roberts, paul.roberts771@gmail.com sministry@olachurch.org
Stephen Ministry (Support for Those in Need)
Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one care giving ministry. Stephen Ministers are there to listen and walk with you through troubled times, such as grieving from loss of a loved one, of a job, divorce, health issues, loneliness, living in a time of pain or lack of direction. All is confidential. Contact 404-261-7181, ext 128 or sministry@olachurch.org
Outside the OLA Community
Adopt-A-Cop: Serving Those Who Protect
Adopt-A-Cop assigns law enforcement officers from the Brookhaven Police Department to a family, group, or individual who will pray daily for them and send a monthly note of encouragement, support, and gratitude for their service to the community. Members support the department in their community building activities, strengthening the relationship between our parish and the Brookhaven Police Department. Anne Stephens, Communications Director, astephens@olachurch.org
IOH: Interfaith Outreach Home Ministry
The Interfaith Outreach Home allows formerly homeless persons to have a place to stay, along with their families, until they are able to get back onto their feet. OLA's IOH ministry The ministry provides continued support to the residents and the staff. We support IOH in all capacities, including works to maintain the interior and exterior of the home. Please consider sharing your time and talent by joining our ministry. We have plenty of projects to fit any schedule. Amanda and Declan Reilly Family, amandareilly@gmail.com
Kairos Prison Ministry
Kairos is an ecumenical Christian Prison Ministry that ministers to men and women in medium and maximum security prisons. Volunteers are needed to join the team, help lead retreats, and show agape in the form of baking cookies for prisoners and prison staff. Kevin Fitzpatrick, Kevin.fitzpatrick@dcbflegal.com
Mercy Care Ministry
Mercy Care Chamblee is our neighborhood clinic that provides free/low cost healthcare to families who do not have access to basic medical care. OLA’s Mercy Care ministry provides volunteer support for neighborhood health fairs, collects critical essential care items to support front line street medicine teams, and raises funds to support community initiatives.The group assembles 100s of care packages for the homeless each month. Opportunities are also available for medical professionals and life/health skills professionals interested in volunteering their time and talent. Mercy Care was started by the Sisters of Mercy who founded OLA School. Lindsey Tidwell, mercycare@olachurch.org
Night Shelter Food Drivers (November - March)
Drivers deliver food to the Central Presbyterian Night Shelter on Tuesdays, November - March. Food is provided by the Soupremes ministry. Jim Tiernan, jimtier25@yahoo.com
Pro-Life Ministry
The purpose of this ministry is to raise awareness and educate individuals about pro-life issues and to inform the community about upcoming events such as life chains, prayer vigils, the Annual March for Life, and various fundraisers. Our main goal is to protect the life of the unborn & their mothers. The ministry is always looking for new members to participate in events throughout the year. Katherine Baldwin, prolife@olachurch.org
Sr. Thea Bowman Racial Justice Ministry
Our mission is to become a deep source for learning, teaching, transformation, and action to dismantle the communal sin of racism in our church, parish, and community.We learn together through group study, training, experiences, and pilgrimages, and we seek to join other Catholic and interfaith communities to become active and trustworthy fellow pilgrims in the fight against racism.We are inspired in our work by the spirit and power of Sister Thea Bowman, religious sister, educator, musician, scholar, and Servant of God, and we pray for her canonization. Beth Belden, racialjustice@olachurch.org
Care for Creation Ministry
Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Care for Our Common Home (Laudato Si’) OLA’s Care for Creation Ministry’s mission is to inspire the parish and surrounding community to restore and preserve all of God’s creation through worship, education, and service. With the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s Ladauto Si’ action plan as our guide, we seek to live more sustainably in harmony with God’s creation and encourage our community to do so as well. The Care for Creation team is developing a multi-faceted program of education, service and worship open to all OLA parishioners, visitors and community members. Suzanne Degnats, careforcreation@olachurch.org
Justice and Peace Ministry
This organization supports its members to put their faith in action in support of others. Monthly Ethical Trade coffee/tea/chocolate sales raise money toward building homes in Nicaragua throughFood For the Poor. The group attends and supports interfaith outreach programs in the Atlanta area and also advocates for legislative issues in conjunction with Catholic Social Teaching. This ministry is in partnership with STAND UP FOR KIDS - a program supporting the homeless youth of Atlanta and hosts annual drives to provide needed supplies for homeless youth. The OLA Just Faith community actively supports the work of other Outreach Ministries at OLA. Suzanne Ernst, suzernst@att.net
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic men’s organization that is devoted to many activities in and around the parish; specific areas of activities are church, community, youth, and pro-life. Doug Fusco, koc@olachurch.org
Middle School Missions Camp
Rising 6th – 8th graders spend a week during the summer learning how to share their time and talent through service to OLA and the local community. Nick Ables, nables@olachurch.org
Night Shelter Volunteers (November - March)
Overnight volunteers serve at the Central Presbyterian Night Shelter by serving dinner to the guests (70 homeless men), cleaning up afterwards, and then staying overnight at the shelter to provide supervision of the guests. We typically have 6 overnight volunteers per night who rotate shifts of sleeping and supervising the guests. Total time on site is from 6pm - 6am. The reward of this ministry is the direct, hands-on outreach with the homeless men. These men are real people who are down on their luck. They are humble and genuinely appreciative of the warm meal and the shelter from the winter weather. Serving them in this way is a humbling and uplifting experience. Nick Meyer, nickgmeyer@gmail.com
Soupremes (November - March; Lent)
Teams of chefs prepare meals to be served at the Central Night Shelter. Teams cook on a rotating schedule. Meals are prepared in the Marist Hall Kitchen each Monday of the Month and delivered the next day by the Night Shelter Drivers Ministry. Teams also provide the meal for the parish Lenten Soup Suppers. Anne Marie Shulman, annemarieshulman@mac.com Jill Termini, jilltermini@ups.com
St. Vincent de Paul Society Vincentians
The purpose of this group is to provide confidential and temporary emergency assistance to those within our parish boundaries in the form of rent, food, utilities, or medicine. Members make personal visits to assess and verify needs of clients. Steve Conway, steveconway63@gmail.com
St. Vincent de Paul Society for Those in Need
St. Vincent de Paul provides confidential and temporary emergency assistance to those within our parish boundaries in the form of rent, food, utilities, medicine or transportation. If you are in need of assistance, please call 404-261-7181 ext. 124 and leave a message. Please do not come to the parish office as our staff will not be able to assist you.
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