A dream, a vision, a reality. Children playing, laughing, learning and growing in a loving environment. A place where girls and boys shine like stars. This was the vision of Fr. Tom Aduri, a home for the orphans of his native state of Andhra Pradesh, India. He had spent time with Mother Teresa’s Missionary of Charities sisters, and like them, has a true love for the poor. Seeing Christ in the faces of the most needy, he wanted to help. He shared this dream with his family and friends and with God’s help and the generosity of many, the Blessed Brian Home opened in Porumamilla in June 2012.

In addition to the Blessed Brian Home, other programs to bring help to the most disenfranchised of the community, have been established and implemented that provide medical care through our Blessed Brian Hospital, food for the hungry through our Prince of Peace Feeding program, pure drinking water to villages, scholarships for children and young adults, micro financing to entrepreneurial women, and a variety of other services.

Funding for these programs are all through the Blessed Brian Foundation, an IRS qualified 501(c)(3), and is entirely dependent on the generosity of many in both the United States and India.

Read more about the Blessed Brian Home and Hospital at blessedbrianhome.org

The Mother Teresa Farmers Market is open from 8:30am until 11:00am on Saturday mornings starting July 4th weekend and ending Labor Day weekend (10 weeks) in the Don Akin Memorial Shelter House. Produce for the market is grown at a community garden spot and extra surplus from parishioners is excepted. Volunteers are needed to help in early spring to plant, weed, and harvest throughout the market season and to help run the market on Saturday mornings. All proceeds, as well as any unsold produce, are donated to the Topeka Rescue Mission.

More About Farmer's Market

Nonperishable food is available and distributed to all those who request assistance. Donations are accepted on an on-going basis. Volunteers help sort and stock food pantry items.

This group of volunteers provides and serves funeral dinners for parishioners who have lost a loved one. Funeral dinners provide an opportunity for family and friends to visit and share memories while enjoying a nourishing meal. Volunteers are needed to prepare and donate a salad or dessert item for the meal. Volunteers are also needed to setup, cook, serve, and cleanup after the meal.

More About Funeral Dinners

Taking Faith, Food & Fellowship to the Streets

A crew of Mother Teresa parishioners go out every Monday evening from 5:30-6:30 pm to serve a hot meal to our neighbors in need in North Topeka. Meals, coats, blankets, hygiene products, and other essentials are delivered and served from a trailer on an empty lot at 220 NW Jay Street. Volunteers are needed to prepare ready-to-bake casseroles in their homes and then deliver those casseroles to the church kitchen on Mondays. Recipes are provided.

More About Hands of Hope

The Justice Ministry promotes the social teachings of the church and works to facilitate learning and action in the spirit of Jesus. This ministry is joined with a coalition of 30 churches called Topeka JUMP (Justice Unity Ministry Project). They are an action organization empowering people to speak on behalf of themselves and of the voiceless to identify ways to address community problems at the root. Their mission is to build people-based power to seek long-lasting changes to address poverty and injustice.

Let's Help is an organization in downtown Topeka that provides a hot meal daily to those in need. Our parish has a group of volunteers who prepare an entree at the facility on the first Friday of every month.

Deacon Tim Ruoff is the Spiritual Director of the Prison Ministry at Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF). The Prison Ministry is supported by the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and is facilitated by a network of several deacons, a priest, and parish-based volunteers from Topeka and Kansas City.  The Prison Ministry provides Holy Mass or Communion Services in 3 separate areas at TCF and Faith Formation classes including OCIA every Tuesday and Thursday. 

Our pro-life ministry is dedicated to upholding the dignity and value that is found in all human life by virtue of being created in the image and likeness of God. This ministry helps with fundraisers and donation drives for area pregnancy centers, as well as support for foster families as needed.

A 12-step recovery group meets at Mother Teresa Catholic Church every Thursday at 7:00 pm. If you would like more information, please call the parish office at 785-286-2188.