Gonzaga and McKenna Center: A Culture of Service
One of NoMa’s most historic neighboring institutions is the St. Aloysius Church located at 900 North Capitol St., N.W., just across the street from NoMa’s western boundary. The church has been in use since 1859 and is named for St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a young Italian Jesuit who gave his life at the age of 23 caring for victims of the plague in Rome in 1581.

The church shares its campus with Gonzaga College High School, the oldest educational facility in the original Federal city of Washington. Founded by Father Anthony Kohlmann in 1821, this Catholic boys’ school anchored the “Swampoodle” neighborhood, a thriving Irish Catholic community located around Union Station in what is now NoMa. A commitment to community service pervades the culture and curriculum at Gonzaga, which was recently named Washington’s premier Catholic high school by The Wall Street Journal.

In the lower level of the church building is The Father McKenna Center, which carries out the mission of Fr. Horace McKenna, S.J. to the city’s poor and marginalized. The Center hosts a drop-in service for men providing meals, showers, laundry facilities, informal counseling, support group meetings, job search assistance, and referrals geared toward creating a more stable lifestyle. The Center also provides emergency food assistance for families, senior citizens, and the disabled; a hypothermia shelter; recovery programs; educational programs; and other community services.

You can support The McKenna Center by making monetary or in-kind donations such as men’s clothing, kitchen equipment, non-perishable food, books and periodicals, and personal care items. For information, call 202-842-1112 or email info@fathermckennacenter.org