Emmaus Ministries-Worth Reading, Sharing & Supporting!

The Chicago Mission is a 10 day trip to Uptown Chicago where a group of fourteen college students stay and work with Emmaus Ministries. Emmaus is a ministry center that serves men that either have been or are involved in a lifestyle of same-sex prostitution. Emmaus is a safe place where these men can get their lives back together, they can wash their clothes, do chores, take showers, go to prayer groups, it’s a place they can have mail sent, where they can make phone calls, it’s their home.  My favorite part of the mission is that everyday for lunch everyone stops what they’re doing: all the staff, all the volunteers and all the men who have come to Emmaus that day, come together at a long table, right in front of a huge mural of the Last Supper, and have a meal together. They pray, they eat, they laugh. For some of the men at Emmaus it’s the only place they’ve ever had a meal like this: around a table, in a safe place with people that love them.

Something I didn’t realize until I had the opportunity to go to Emmaus last year was that male prostitution is a totally different culture than I had imagined.  When I think of the poorest in society I think of the homeless.  Many of these men are addicts, alcoholics as well as homeless; they’ve come from impossible backgrounds without family or shelter and most often without love of any kind. They sell themselves for mere dollars, often to get their next “fix”.  They can’t go to homeless shelters because the homeless know who they are and often beat or rape them.  Emmaus is a safe haven where they don’t have to worry about being hurt, they don’t have to explain themselves, they are just loved and cared for, they are given the opportunity to get their lives back on track.

Emmaus had a profound impact on my life, in ways I never expected. I went to Emmaus ready to serve the men. Ready to smile and laugh with them. Ready to cook and clean. Ready to listen and have conversations with the men I’d meet.  I did these things but what I wasn’t expecting was the way that the men would serve me.  There wasn’t a day I was there that one of the men didn’t open a door for me, pull out the chair for me while we sat down for lunch. I was never allowed to clear my own plate, God forbid I try to take theirs!  I may have cooked, but they ALWAYS did the dishes.  They loved me without strings, without expectations.  I quickly realized that we are all prostitutes in one form or another, “we are all poor and broken.  The only difference between me and the men of Emmaus,” as the founder of Emmaus, Deacon John Green, once said, “is that we know where the food is.” We are all on a walk to Emmaus the difference is that I know where it leads.  These men have such a profound ability to love and they each had an incredible impact on my life.

One of these men was David. He was a firefighter who had been in an accident and had suffered severe brain damage. He lost his job, his wife left him taking the children with her. He began drinking which then led to hard drugs. Before long he was living on the streets with all he owned in a duffle bag and a tent that he slept in.  He turned to prostitution to pay for his next high and no one left who cared.  Emmaus was a place where people noticed when he wasn’t there, it was a place where people knew his name, they knew his story, they loved him.  We’d go outside and smoke cigarettes together, he didn’t say much but he’d come because he knew I’d give him cigarettes and if he ignored my questions long enough I’d leave him alone.  So we’d sit outside in silence.  One day I caught a glimpse of his eyes and was so taken aback by their piercing color and vibrancy that I had to tell him.  His reaction is still fresh in my mind as I write this.  He looked up, straight in my eyes and smiled. He talked for maybe 10 minutes about his parents’ eyes and how his were such a mix of the two. He told me how he thought they were his best feature and that no matter what he had gone through, or what he looked like, they were still the same.  We finished our cigarettes, he hugged me and we went inside.  I think about him and pray for him everyday.  Emmaus is a place for men like David, who have had to turn to prostitution because of the impossible situations they’ve found themselves in.

The week we get to spend with Emmaus is life changing. I feel so blessed to be going back this year as a co-leader, ready to share the experience I had with 11 new people who are eager to meet the men I have such a great love for.  The Chicago Mission leaves on March 9th, just over a month away! Our goal is $12,000 and unfortunately we are still thousands of dollars away.

Please help us get to Chicago this year.  Time is running out but although we have a ways to go, we are confident that your generosity will get us there! You can donate online at: https://giving.franciscan.edu/sslpage.aspx?pid=383 in the “designation” area put “Chicago”.

Please keep our mission in your prayers and know that you are in ours.

God bless~

Kateri Lang

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any further questions or would like more information:  kateri.l.lang@gmail.com