The mission of the Manna Ministry is to follow the teaching of Jesus by loving and serving the poor and the homeless. We do this by supporting The Door Is Open, a Catholic charity run by the Carmelite Sisters in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This year we have been preparing bagged lunches in our parish kitchen and distributing them to the homeless who rely on the Door Is Open for food support throughout the year. We are finding it to be a humbling and uplifting experience which allows us to feel the true presence of Christ amongst us.
Location
Guardian Angels
1161 Broughton
Vancouver, BC V6G 2B3
Vancouver, BC V6G 2B3
Contact
March 24, 2022:
We are happy to announce that our Parish has a new ministry which is dedicated to serving the needs of the poor and vulnerable in the community.
Parishioners may already be familiar with The Door is Open, the Catholic mission operated by the Carmelite Sisters which serves breakfast and lunch 7 days a week, 365 days a year to the homeless and residents of the Downtown Eastside. Last week, to support the work of D.I.O, a small group of our own parishioners met in the rectory basement and put together one hundred lunch bags which were delivered to the Sisters’ house on Dunlevy Street in time for distribution the following morning.
Father John would like our parish to engage in an ongoing partnership with The Door is Open and we are already planning three more lunches this year. If there is sufficient interest and support by Guardian Angels parishioners, we are hoping to be able to continue our outreach work on a monthly basis in 2023. Please pray for the success of our new Parish ministry.
June 7, 2022:
A big thank you to everyone for the great teamwork this morning! We were so efficient that our arrival at the Door Is Open was way ahead of schedule, which was all to the good as it gave us a chance to tour the place, meet the regular “Tuesday” volunteers (from the Korean Catholic parishes in Coquitlam and Burnaby) and chat with Sister Chita. I have to say that we were amazed by the work that is done by the sisters and their volunteers on a daily basis, starting with breakfast at 7:30 each morning.
At 11:00 on the dot Frank, Bridget, and I got to distribute bowls of soup, plus our lunch bags, to the first 126 people in the lineup. The rest got peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Everybody was happy and it was an uplifting and inspiring experience for the three of us.
Sister Chita has already put us on the calendar for September 6th, so I am hoping that the date will work for everyone (with an 8:30 a.m. start time).
September 8, 2022 -
On September 8th the members of Guardian Angels Manna Ministry spent the morning at The Door is Open, a Catholic charity in the Downtown Eastside which is operated by the Carmelite Sisters and which serves daily meals to the poor and homeless.
We arrived early and worked hard to prepare lunch bags for close to 200 people. It was a very rewarding experience for all of us as we were not only able to interact with the clients, but also to get to know some of the other volunteers and to meet Father Nestor, the pastor of St. Paul’s and Sacred Heart parishes.
August 22, 2023 -
Another life-filled and inspiring sandwich making at The Door is Open, for the poor, by the Guardian Angels Parish Manna Ministry.
Bible Study Group
Hospitality
The Hospitality Ministry helps to provide a welcoming atmosphere at our parish. In addition to being greeters at each Sunday Mass, the Hospitality groups provides refreshments after Mass and for...