St. Francis Men's House

At St. Francis House, we currently provide overnight shelter for approximately 10-12 homeless individuals. The majority of our guest suffer from mental illness or have a history of substance abuse. Our houses are open during the evening hours to people who live on the street, the near-homeless, food-insecure people, or anyone who wants to visit our community and get to know us better. We offer a place to relax out of the elements and enjoy community. We also provide breakfast and a light supper on a daily basis to homeless and home insecure persons in Columbia. In addition to our overnight guests, we generally serve an additional 10-20 people at these meals. Length of stay at the men’s house depends on individual need: some chronically mentally ill men have been with us for years; men simply “down on their luck” usually stay from a few days to a few weeks.

St. Francis House provides showers and laundry facilities at no charge to our overnight and drop-in guests, as well as clothing, food boxes, and hospitality for persons in need when we have donations available. We have a telephone available for guests to make local calls.

St. Francis Catholic Worker is an intentional Christian community and house of hospitality. We perform the works of mercy as described by Jesus, and strive for peace personally, among one another, and throughout the world.

We welcome all people regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status.

In the spirit of the Catholic Worker tradition, we are committed to a simple, nonviolent lifestyle as we live and work among the poor. We believe in the concept of personalism, of taking seriously the teaching of Jesus to love our neighbor, and believe that we learn to live in God’s love through community.