{"id":420,"date":"2026-07-31T08:44:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/?page_id=420"},"modified":"2026-10-05T10:50:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:50:52","slug":"notre-dame-de-la-rue","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/archdiocese\/our-history\/notre-dame-de-la-rue\/","title":{"rendered":"Notre-Dame de la rue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Notre-Dame de la rue (Our Lady of the Street) reaches out to people experiencing homelessness. It is a presence of the Church and a source of comfort. Since its founding in 2013, Father Claude Paradis and his assistant Kevin, together with volunteers, go out into the streets several times a week. They meet people where they are. Their first concern: to offer a spiritual presence and help people find meaning in what they are living through.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The street, another Church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI often say, and it\u2019s true, the guys who are outside are locked outside. They can\u2019t get in. They\u2019re locked outside; there\u2019s no place they\u2019re allowed into. It\u2019s the opposite of what you might think,\u201d says Father Claude Paradis, founder and, for just over two years, head of Notre-Dame de la rue, a unique initiative in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, there is the great freedom enjoyed by this new diocesan organization. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cost much; the street is my office,\u201d says Father Paradis. Then there is the kind of welcome, which differs from other homelessness services. Without questioning how essential their work is, he points out that it is not always easy for people to feel comfortable there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes centres will say: \u2018We offer an unconditional welcome.\u2019 Except you have to arrive at a certain time, that\u2019s mandatory; you have to shower, that\u2019s mandatory; you have to shave, that\u2019s mandatory; you have to go to bed at a certain time, that\u2019s mandatory. So it\u2019s not really unconditional: it\u2019s full of conditions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, according to him, many homeless people refuse to go into shelters even at -30 \u00b0C. \u201cOutside, they feel free.\u201d It is in the street that Father Paradis, his companion Kevin and a small team of volunteers take the time to reach out to people. On the program: handing out a little food, coffee and water, but above all, being present to people who often no longer have any self-esteem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is your true hunger? What is the meaning of your life?\u201d explains Father Paradis. He likes to compare this spiritual thirst with the Gospel of the \u201cLast Judgment,\u201d in the final pages of the Gospel of Matthew: \u201cI was naked and you clothed me\u2026 I was hungry and you gave me food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat does it mean, I was naked and you clothed me? What is your dignity as a human being? People are hungry to be someone for another person. People are hungry to be loved by another person,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s what it is now, in 2016: it\u2019s no longer only the literal meaning we need to bring. I was naked \u2013 that\u2019s the whole dignity of the human person. That\u2019s worth a lot more than handing out a T-shirt in the street,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My parish is the street!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Can spiritual thirst only be satisfied in the comfort of a retirement home or a tidy church? While these are no doubt perfect places for it, they are not accessible to the people Father Paradis and Kevin accompany. \u201cWhat saddens Pope Francis most about the clergy, in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, is the lack of spiritual care for the poor,\u201d he points out \u2013 a message the Argentine pope addresses especially to the clergy. \u201cIt\u2019s a big problem,\u201d says Father Paradis, who hopes to help fill this gap through Notre-Dame de la rue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody needs spirituality. That\u2019s why we welcome them like this and take them as they are. We try to walk part of the road with them, at their own pace. If they don\u2019t want to go to a centre, we\u2019ll journey with them in another way.\u201d Father Paradis notes that most of the people he meets have been \u201cshuffled\u201d from one foster family to another. For people in the street, going back to a centre also means dealing again with social workers, bureaucracy \u2013 the system, as they say. They have become distrustful after being let down so many times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, another thing that moves Father Paradis is that he sometimes hears the confessions of those he supports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes they don\u2019t know it\u2019s a confession, but they make one to me.\u201d He has heard confessions in parks, but also in a shooting gallery and a brothel. \u201cThey\u2019re strange places,\u201d he admits \u2013 yet he would not trade places for anything in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes priests ask me: how do you do it? And I tell them, how do you manage to be in a parish? I couldn\u2019t be in a parish. I just couldn\u2019t.\u201d His parish is the street. \u201cI often say: I\u2019m a former drug addict and I was on the street. It was the street that brought me to the Church; as soon as I was ordained, the Church sent me back to the street. I often say, the street is my Church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Supporting the search for meaning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Together with Kevin, he forms a team that goes out, mostly in the evening, to meet those who will spend the night outdoors. With a few volunteers, the visits are sometimes brief: a look, a hello, a coffee or a juice. Silence offers a moment of respite in a life where asphalt, crowds and the whims of the weather are hardly friendly companions. And the people are not the same as before; forget the days of the \u201cgood old rubby\u201d with a mickey of gin in his bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the street is home to young people from good families as well as professionals who lost everything to gambling. Or people whom the health system has let down, especially those with fragile mental health. Not to mention those on whom drugs have the effect of a bomb. In recent years, overdoses have been on the rise. The main problem is that anything is being sold. Drugs are cut with cleaning products, solvents and so on. No one knows what the effects will be \u2013 explosive mixtures that even regular users can no longer detect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all these people, Father Paradis sometimes gets into deeper conversations in which the day\u2019s sorrows \u2013 and sometimes its joys \u2013 are shared. A moment for a confidence or a confession, and the small team is off to another strategic spot: a warm-air vent from the underground city in winter, or a cool park in the stifling heat of summer. Metro stations too, where, depending on the mood and openness of the staff, a person can stay for a while sheltered from the elements, especially in winter. But don\u2019t count on the downtown stations when there is a hockey game, a major show or another event. They get cleared out. Nothing must suggest that these people exist\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key word: hope<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Father Paradis makes no secret of it: he would love for his flock from the street to come and pray at Mass one day. But the primary goal is not to fill churches. If a person finds meaning in life and manages to get out of the street, so much the better \u2013 like the young man he ran into by chance at the Saint-F\u00e9licien Zoo. From the streets of Montreal to the ticket line with his partner and their two children: Father Paradis\u2019s words and actions bear fruit. But they are not always as visible as in this example. Hope is the key word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To continue his work, Father Paradis needs the support of his bishop and of Kevin, his indispensable companion, but also of volunteers who do not judge and do not seek first to convert. He needs people who offer an unconditional welcome. Then there is financial support. Donations help support the two pillars, Kevin and Father Claude, and also buy devotional items \u2013 a Notre-Dame-de-la-Rue medal that is very popular \u2013 as well as a little food and coffee. They do not replace the soup provided by other organizations. However, to listen to one\u2019s own search for meaning, it is better to have eaten a little first.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Video clips and media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Father Paradis spoke to us about homelessness, the reasons that led him to care for people in the street and what he does concretely to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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La Reine des Bi\u00e8res et Notre Dame de la Rue<\/a> (in French)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Among the many inspiring volunteer stories unfolding within the Archdiocese of Montreal, the one we are sharing with you today is surprising, to say the least.




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Contribute<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Notre-Dame de la rue works in partnership with other organizations offering mutual aid and spiritual listening. Notre-Dame de la rue is always looking for volunteers and donations of non-perishable food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To volunteer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Father Claude Paradis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Phone<\/strong>: 514 925-4348
Email<\/strong>: notredamedelarue@diocesemontreal.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To make a donation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Donate by cheque<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Make your cheque payable to
<\/strong>L\u2019Archev\u00each\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al (Notre-Dame de la rue)
2000 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC\u00a0 H3H 1G4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charitable registration number<\/em><\/strong> : 11887 6390 RR0001<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donate online<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Make an online donation<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\nMt 25:40<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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