Columbus Holy Rosary-St. John Church no longer will be serving as a worship site, but the many community services provided next door at the St. John Center, the former St. John School at 640 S. Ohio Ave., are continuing uninterrupted at least in the near future.
These include the Community Kitchen, serving free hot meals five days a week; a food pantry that is open every Thursday and provides three days’ worth of food to low-income residents from anywhere in Franklin County; the St. John Learning Center, offering classes for people preparing for the GED high-school equivalency diploma test, plus other adult education programs; and the Order of Malta Center of Care, providing free medical care and referrals once a week and free dental care twice a month at no charge to anyone who visits.
Bishop Earl Fernandes issued a decree in January affirming the diocesan presbyteral council’s decision that Holy Rosary-St. John Church would be closed, with its worship community combining with that of nearby Columbus St. Dominic Church as one parish, effective June 30. Caring for the church, the St. John Center and other properties on the Holy Rosary-St. John (HRSJ) campus will become the responsibility of the combined St. Dominic Parish.
“We partner with a lot of different agencies and most of them were wondering what was going to happen here until I assured them the St. John Center would remain open,” said Teresa Lee, St. John Learning Center coordinator. “A number of places in the Columbus area offer GED classes, but few are ADA (Americans with Disabilities) Act compliant, as we are.
“Our elevator was repaired a couple of years ago after being broken for some time and the rest of the building has been upgraded to ADA standards. That’s a necessity for this building because it has five floors. It is so good for those in wheelchairs or with other physical limitations to be able to come here and not feel out of place. Being near a bus line also makes the center convenient to people.”
The Community Kitchen is open for sit-down dining on weekdays from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. for breakfast and 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for lunch. Last year, it served about 150,000 meals, said MJ McCleskey, president and chief executive officer of Community Kitchen, Inc. It also operates a summer food program for children and provides special Thanksgiving and Christmas meals on-site.
The program began as a parish ministry in 1979 and has been a federal 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with a board of directors representing the community since 1985.
A food pantry that, like the kitchen, is in the St. John Center basement has been open since the 1980s and serves between 70 and 90 families or individuals each Thursday from 9 to 10:30 a.m., said volunteer coordinator Rose Moses. The pantry is a program of the parish itself.
Moses’ remarks came on April 25 during a morning that began with about 20 cars in a double line, with more coming through at a steady pace for most of the 90 minutes the pantry was open. Another 54 people walked or biked to the site to pick up food.
“During the COVID pandemic, everyone had to stay in line outside,” she said. “We started allowing walk-ins this winter when it got extremely cold and are continuing to do it because it makes things more efficient. Walk-ins have been on the rise since it began getting warmer.”
COVID also forced the pantry to cut back its openings from two days to one day a week.
She said everyone the pantry serves receives one bag of nonperishable foods such as cereal, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, rice and canned foods, plus one or two bags of nonperishables including bread, milk, eggs, yogurt and fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and produce.
Moses, who has been volunteering at the pantry for more than 20 years, said most of the perishables are from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, with canned goods and other items coming from Columbus St. Peter and St. Catharine, Powell St. Joan of Arc, Pickerington St. Elizabeth Seton and Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare parishes, the Knights of St. Peter Claver auxiliary, the Knights of St. John, other organizations and individual donors.
During the Christmas season, the pantry distributes hats, gloves and blankets it receives from the knitting ministry at Gahanna St. Matthew Church.
Moses is assisted by eight to 10 regular adult volunteers, plus high school students who come to the pantry to earn volunteer service hour credits. She said its major expenses are for office supplies and bags. Most people who come to the site are from the neighborhood near the center, but Moses said she regularly has clients from the far eastern and far western ends of Franklin County as well.
Mary Carter Roberts, a longtime member of Holy Rosary-St. John who was married in the church to her now-deceased husband Clarence, prays during the final Mass.
Lee, who has been St. John Learning Center’s coordinator since 2022, said it has been offering GED classes since the 1980s, doing it in the past year or so in a partnership with Columbus City Schools and the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Aspire program for adult learners. The classes are offered quarterly. A spring session is in progress with about 15 people enrolled. She said most sessions have about 15 or 20 attending. The learning center also is a program of the parish.
Students in the classes take a placement test that positions them in one of two levels of study. The first level gives students enough general knowledge to go to the second level, which gets them ready to take the GED test. New classes start approximately every three months, but there’s no set term for when classes end for each student. That depends on the time it takes for an individual to complete each level.
Lee said that’s a change from rules of the past that set time limits. In addition, teachers now work individually rather than in groups with students. She said today’s GED curriculum is aligned more with what’s likely to be on the test rather than being based on specific subjects such as English or math.
For those interested in home ownership, the center offers a federally certified program on the third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in cooperation with the NID Housing Counseling Agency. Topics discussed include steps in purchasing a home, money management, understanding credit, down payment assistance programs, how to obtain a mortgage loan and selecting the right home. Anyone wishing to register may email their name, address and phone number to [email protected].
Lee said the Saturday program is for those seriously interested in buying a home. For those considering the possibility but not at the buying stage, there will be Zoom workshops on financial literacy from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, June 6 and on homebuyer basics at the same time the following day, in partnership with the Financial Compass Foundation. Sign up at stjohnlearning.wordpress.com/registration.
The center also sponsors several other Zoom programs on finance-related topics. Credit counselor Kelly Armstrong will present a workshop on improving credit scores and getting out of financial holes from noon to 1:45 p.m. Thursday, June 13. The center just completed a five-week online series on starting a business and is working on plans for another one. Topics covered in hourlong sessions include developing a business plan; insurance issues; grants and loans; taxes and marketing.
Throughout the year, the center has been presenting a Zoom workshop series on mental health issues titled “Stop the Stigma,” with licensed counselors speaking on a different subject from noon to 1 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month.
Topics covered so far this year include health boundaries, social media, body image, eating disorders, domestic violence and teen dating violence. The next session will be on June 20 on “Healthy Communication for Better Relationships.” To register, go to stjohnlearning.wordpress.com/registration.
Besides classrooms, the center also has a computer lab with six stations for students. In addition, Lee said she and a local job training agency are trying to put together a program to help people learn skills needed for specific in-demand jobs.
She said the business classes attract 50 to 100 people for evening sessions and 30 to 40 for afternoon programs. About 25 to 30 people have attended each “Stop the Stigma” session to date.
“I’ve been here for only about 2½ years and have to give credit to several wonderful teachers who have volunteered here for much longer,” she said. “One who especially stands out is Melodie McGee, an elementary school teacher for more than 30 years who is part of the GED program. She has taken in many students who couldn’t read or count and patiently guided them through the steps needed to pass the GED test.”
For information on any of the St. John Learning Center’s activities, call (614) 547-2171 or email [email protected].
The Columbus region of the Order of Malta has operated its Center of Care at the St. John Center since the summer of 2017. Word of mouth resulted in quick growth, with around 500 people being seen and about 1,500 packages of hygiene supplies, undergarments, socks, T-shirts, gloves and hats distributed in each of its first two full years of operation.
The arrival of COVID in March 2020 caused those numbers to drop sharply until pandemic restrictions were eased in 2022. Last year, 258 people received medical assistance and 43 received dental care, with the total of packages distributed again reaching around 1,500.
The center, which is open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., offers health screenings and basic medical, wound, burn, dental and foot care from volunteer physicians, podiatrists and dentists from the Catholic Medical Association, along with medical referrals for those needing advanced levels of care. It does not bill insurance or Medicare but operates solely on donations.
Since 2022, it also has provided coats for the winter, distributing all the 192 coats per year it has made available.
“The Order of Malta has a history which goes back nearly 1,000 years to the Crusades in Jerusalem,” said Jason Thomas, president of the care center’s board. “Its mission from the beginning has been caring for the poor and the sick and today it operates hospitals and clinics in more than 120 nations.
“I’m in information technology but have always wanted to be involved in this kind of work. The center actively allows me and other members of the order to fulfill that charism.”
“It’s a satisfying thing to be able to do what we do, giving needed service for people who need care and can’t afford it,” said Dr. Tom Rankin, who provides dental care at the center. “What’s especially gratifying is that we do it with no strings attached and no red tape.”
“I love this work because it provides such pure human interaction,” said Dr. Marian Schuda of Riverside Methodist Hospital, a physician for 45 years. “There’s no bureaucracy or pre-registration, which sometimes just gets in the way, especially for people who just want to sit and talk about their medical issues. It’s gratifying for them to be able to do this and reminds me of why I became a doctor in the first place.”
For more on the Center of Care, call (614) 530-8643 or go to www.centerofcare.org.
For information on all the services at the St. John Center (also known as the St. John Community Center), go to hrsjchurch.org/service. Donations and volunteers are also welcome. Email [email protected] or call (614) 252-5926, extension 7 for more information on supporting these programs.
