Catholic coffee shops serve up God's love nationwide

(OSV News) -- When people walk into Brother André's Café, Kevin Loiselle usually greets them with a "hello!" and always with a big smile. His joy -- and the joy of the other people who work there -- is part of what draws customers to the Pittsburgh coffee shop.

"They love everyone truly in an unconditional way, the way that I think we're all called to love," Bridgette Pepmeyer, Kevin's twin sister and the cafe's occupational therapist, told OSV News.

The cafe is an outreach of Move a Mountain Missions. A Catholic nonprofit, MMM employs 25 team members with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Loiselle. It opened after the parents of Patrick Fitzgerald, a young man who lives with autism, approached Father Chris Donley, co-founder of MMM, with the idea in 2019. At the time, Fitzgerald struggled to find a job.

Since its grand opening in 2021, Brother André's Café, named for St. André Bessette, has become a huge success. Earlier this year, it expanded to welcome customers at two different locations, both at Pittsburgh parishes. It has received support from actor Tom Holland and "The Bible in a Year" podcast host, Father Mike Schmitz. Most recently, Patrick Fitzgerald met Pope Leo XIV and presented him with his specialty that is also offered at the cafe: snickerdoodle cookies.

Today, the cafe is part of a larger movement. Coffee shops associated with Catholic churches and organizations are opening around the country in order to build community and share God's love. Folks at three of them spoke with OSV News about their efforts following National Coffee Day on Sept. 29 and International Coffee Day on Oct. 1.

All three shops are witnessing a growth in faith in the people they serve. Brother André's Café's first customer, a fallen-away Catholic, returned to confession after 30 years, Pepmeyer said. In Shreveport, Louisiana, Carpenter Coffee House is seeing conversions. At another cafe in Baltimore, parish families are befriending people experiencing homelessness.

Sexton's Lodge Cafe

At Sexton's Lodge Cafe, a free coffee ministry at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, the parish children know the local people experiencing homelessness by name.

"It's helped to strengthen our parish in their love of God and love of neighbor, but also helped to kind of create a larger community here," Abby Kourtz, director of outreach at the basilica, the first cathedral built in the U.S., said of the cafe.

The cafe opened in 2024 after Kourtz served as a missionary with Source of All Hope, a Catholic young adult volunteer program based in Baltimore that ministers to people experiencing homelessness. She remembered noticing two things: A large number of people were living on the streets outside of the basilica and basilica parishioners wanted to help serve them.

Today, she said, the space has "helped to foster relationships between the poor and our parish community and help our parish know Christ in the poor." And she said it also invites them to "enter into a grander community that's centered on the love of God."

The cafe, run by volunteers including Source of Hope missionaries, welcomes people on two days: Thursday mornings and Sunday after the basilica's 10:30 a.m. Mass.

All of the coffee and food served comes from donations, according to Maria Veres, the basilica's director of parish operations. Two local coffee companies, Baltimore Coffee and Tea and Ceremony Coffee Roasters, donate the coffee. The cafe also receives donations from Bakery Express in Halethorpe, Maryland, and the local Panera Bread.

Kourtz and Veres described the cafe, housed in a basilica building, as a space filled with natural light and decorated with paintings of the saints, including an icon of St. Drogo, the patron saint of coffee. It includes a little library with Catholic books that women who live in the alley next to the basilica often borrow.

"It's a gathering space where our parish -- and anyone who comes through -- comes face to face with people who are impoverished and really suffering," Veres said. "But this space ... helps that encounter happen in a really comfortable and low key way."

She and Kourtz, she added, have "seen and heard from parishioners that they've learned a new way to encounter Christ in the poor."

Carpenter Coffee House

Carpenter Coffee House, a ministry of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, seeks to build community.

"When you enjoy a cup of coffee at Carpenter Coffee House we ask you to consider the question, what could your brew build?" its website reads. "What is God asking you to build with your time, talent, and treasures?"

The coffee shop opened in 2021, but the idea for it began much earlier according to the director, Roxanne Chumley. A longtime parishioner at St. Joseph, she remembered going on coffee runs with a friend every Sunday after Mass as a teenager.

"I remember her and I both saying, 'Wouldn't it just be great if St. Joseph had a coffee shop right here?'" said Chumley, who also serves as St. Joseph's director of marriage formation.

Today, the coffee shop, located in a small, brick house that once served as a priests' residence, brings together people from all walks of life. Parishioners, families, elderly couples, and college and med school students frequent the cafe and enjoy drinks with names like "ImmacuLATTE" or "Padre Pio Teo."

Customers pay for coffee by donation. They also have the option to donate extra and pass on a free cup of coffee to someone else.

Chumley described the coffee house as a Catholic community hub, with a board that announces upcoming parish and diocesan events. The house itself also hosts events, including a dinner following a monthly candlelight Mass and baby showers for parishioners.

Chumley said she has witnessed God work through the coffee house, especially with a 24-hour adoration chapel located just steps away. During a long night of studying at the coffee house, students will often visit the chapel to say hello to Jesus -- and bring their friends, whether they are Catholic or not. Chumley said this has led to conversions.

The coffee house also cares about impacting the global community. The shop posts pictures of their coffee farmers in Honduras so that customers see the person who picks their coffee beans and know who they are supporting. The coffee house also cares that the farmers are paid fairly and that the coffee is ethically sourced.

When people visit the coffee house, Chumley hopes they feel a sense of belonging and joy.
"I had a tiny little idea," she said, "but God has done so many beautiful things with Carpenter Coffee House."

Brother André's Café

In Pittsburgh, Brother André's Café's mission is "to share the many talents of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) with the world."

"We're helping people who are usually overlooked by society and helping them integrate into not only a Christian community where they're loved and welcomed, but also in a capacity where they feel valued and able to contribute to society through this meaningful occupation," Pepmeyer said.

As an occupational therapist, Pepmeyer works closely with all 25 team members who have disabilities -- or, considered from another point of view, have different abilities. She began working at the cafe in 2021, when its first location at Epiphany Church opened. A second location, at the Church of the Assumption, opened in 2025.

Dan Gallagher, co-founder and executive director of MMM, which also organizes mission trips to Mustard Seed Communities, a home for abandoned children with disabilities in Jamaica, said they didn't have a business plan when they began the cafe.

"We were just: 'This is what the Lord wants, and we're going with it,'" Gallagher said, adding that it exceeded their expectations.

Today, Brother André's Café brings together a variety of people, from parishioners to college students. It strives to build community at the parishes where each is located and foster community among its team members and support staff, who pray for each other and for the customers. Among other things, the cafe holds a weekly live stream rosary with guest priests, including Father Schmitz. Team members also participate in a monthly Mass, where they do the readings, bring up the gifts and serve as ushers.

Pepmeyer said she has seen a difference in her brother, Kevin, since he began at the cafe: He prays more and is more reverent at Mass. He communicates more confidently and enjoys talking about his job. He has also developed strong friendships and considers the cafe his second family.

Kevin and the team members show "how we can learn from everyone, no matter what society may think of them as based on what they're able to do or contribute," she said. "I think it also really puts the value on what should be having value, which is just to love like the Lord."