Patrick Fitzgerald loves to bake. 

In high school, he spent hours perfecting his snickerdoodle cookie recipe. Afterward, he earned a food-service certificate from the local community college in Pittsburgh, hoping it would help him find work in a bakery.

However, after completing the program, Patrick faced ongoing barriers to employment. 

Patrick is on the autism spectrum and mostly non-verbal, yet he thrives in social settings and is an incredibly hard worker. Despite this, few employers offered him positions.

2 Prayers, 1 Answer

As Patrick struggled to find work in August 2019, his parents, Mike and Terri Fitzgerald, began praying the Rosary daily for their son — asking God and the Blessed Mother to help him find his way in the world.

Unknown to the Fitzgeralds at the time, Father Chris Donley, pastor of Divine Mercy parish in Pittsburgh, was also praying. 

A few years earlier, Father Donley had launched Move a Mountain Missions, a nonprofit that organizes mission trips for high-school teens to Mustard Seed Communities, a home for abandoned children with disabilities in Jamaica, along with his friend Dan Gallagher. 

Desiring to continue the work of the missions at home, Father Donley and Gallagher began asking God to open doors to create a ministry in Pittsburgh that would serve the most vulnerable in their hometown. 

“Father Chris has an incredible heart for the most vulnerable, and he’s taking these high-school kids down to Jamaica each year. He saw how the Holy Spirit had changed the young people’s hearts and minds, and he longed to start something in Pittsburgh that could build on such a beautiful foundation,” Mike said.

In 2019, Mike Fitzgerald met with Father Donley — newly appointed to Divine Mercy parish — and immediately realized that God had been working on both sides of their prayers.

“We were praying for Patrick, and Father Chris and his team were praying for a ministry in Pittsburgh. It became obvious very quickly that these prayers were meant to be answered together,” Mike said. “I had this idea for a coffee shop employing adults with disabilities affiliated with the Church, and even though it was the first time I had ever met Father Chris, his reaction was: ‘I’m all in.’”

Thus, Brother André’s Café, a ministry of Move a Mountain Missions, was born.

Since the opening of Brother André’s, Father Donley, the Fitzgeralds and staff have been able to welcome other adults with disabilities and their families into this vibrant community. 

Today, Brother André’s employs 26 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities across two locations: the original site at Epiphany Church and a newly opened second location at the Church of the Assumption, part of Regina Coeli parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

“We have three employees who are in wheelchairs; we have some who have Down syndrome; some have autism,” Mike said. “They all bring their own unique gifts and talents.”

Before hiring each employee, Father Donley interviews applicants. As the interview concludes, he always asks two final questions: “What brings you alive?” and “What unique talents do you have?”

“I’m the last one that our employees interview with, where I do a little reverse interviewing, and I ask them what it is that lights them up, and I see if it is something that we can implement in the ministry,” Father Donley said, adding that one flower-loving employee enjoys helping “to arrange flowers for the shop.”

Employees with disabilities are involved in all tasks. Patrick makes cookies and mans the register; others take orders and make coffee.

“The customers come in and have a chance to talk and hang out with the employees,” Mike said. “We shine the light very brightly on our employees, and … they are involved in every aspect of the shop.”

A Saintly Shop

Named after St. André Bessette, a Holy Cross brother famous for his hospitality and holiness, the coffee shop seeks to cultivate Catholic community as it employs adults with disabilities.

The saint was chosen as the café’s namesake for his humility and servant’s heart; St. André served as a doorkeeper for the Holy Cross order at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, the only job that the community could find for him, as he struggled with health issues and could not read or write.

“Brother André turned this position into something amazing,” Mike said. “His kind, humble, loving and prayerful ways brought Jesus to everyone he met. We think that this describes our incredible employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well.”

Originally scheduled to open on Divine Mercy Sunday in April 2020 at Epiphany Church in Uptown Pittsburgh, one of two churches under Divine Mercy parish, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their plans.

“There wasn’t anything for anybody to do in 2020, and for adults with disabilities, it was just brutal,” Mike said.

Rather than wait indefinitely, the crew pivoted. A few months into the pandemic, they launched an online shop, selling coffee subscriptions, cookies and merchandise. Despite the unusual idea, it turned into a huge success — generating more than $50,000 in business between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2020.

By October 2021, Brother André’s Café finally opened its doors to the public, who were overwhelmingly encouraging about the new endeavor. 

“I think the response has been an incredible one since the beginning,” Father Donley told the Register. “We’ve had a number of people talk about how they have had struggles in their faith life, but that they found this and experienced the presence of Christ through the coffee shop and the community around it and then were able to eventually get back into the fullness of the faith.”

A Gift of Encounter

Since its opening, Brother André’s has been a gift to the community, becoming a central gathering spot for parishioners and a source of life and vibrancy.

“Brother André’s has been instrumental in really helping to breathe life and light and joy into the parish community, into the parish — a spot where people can pour into it, but they’re also poured into,” Father Donley said. “The adults-with-disabilities community is a wonderful and beautiful vessel of the grace of God and a testament to God’s presence in our lives. And so when people can encounter that, it is a great gift.”

Katie Sweeney, a mother of five, first wandered into Brother André’s Café before the shop even opened, and she was greeted with warm smiles and a cup of coffee. She left feeling like family.

“As soon as you go to the café for the first time, it’s like you become family as they greet you and want to learn your name,” Sweeny told the Register. “It is the most joy-filled place that you’ll ever encounter. The people are so authentic, real and honest. It’s a gift from God.” 

After discovering the café, she began encouraging her teenage daughters to visit Brother André’s for coffee too. 

“My daughters began visiting and quickly became friends with the employees,” Sweeny said. “My daughters love the community so much that they have started to volunteer for different events they host because it’s so important to them to give back to this place they love.”

Self-described coffee connoisseur Charles Gaita, a 65-year-old parishioner at St. Thomas More parish in the diocese, also exchanged visiting a rotating array of coffee shops to become an almost daily patron at Brother André’s. 

“It’s more than a coffee shop. It’s a place where there’s so much joy. It’s a happy place,” Gaita told the Register. “The employees are always so happy to wait on you. They love to talk, and I just see that they’re so happy … so much joy, and it spreads throughout the shop.” 

Gaita’s daughter Grace knew a few of the employees through her high school’s St. Anthony program, an initiative that seeks to integrate students with disabilities into local Catholic schools. Tragically, Grace unexpectedly passed away three years ago. For Gaita, Brother André’s has become a safe haven, a place where he could remember his daughter and experience a joy-filled community. 

“When Grace passed away, I was on a journey where I didn’t know where I was going or what I was supposed to do. I found myself at Brother André’s, and I started to open up to Mike and Terri and some of the other employees, who were so welcoming in this time of great suffering,” Gaita said. “It brought me so much joy to visit, and it reminded me of my daughter, as I got to see some of the employees who are her friends.”

Lives Changed

For Patrick, the Fitzgeralds and other families, Brother André’s is a blessing. 

“Brother André’s has been life-changing, not only for us, but for all of the employees and their families,” mom Terri told the Register. “Brother André’s has given Patrick a sense of purpose. He has friends. He has a community. It has been incredible.”

The café is supplemented by the care of the parish community.

“Father Chris sets the tone with the overwhelming love he has for Patrick and all people with disabilities,” Mike explained. “He’s not just accepted here, he’s welcomed, and he’s embraced and loved, absolutely loved.”

For Patrick, every day he looks forward to coming to work and baking cookies for patrons. 

“I love making cookies!” Patrick eagerly told the Register. “My famous snickerdoodle cookies.”

Brother André’s Café has become more than a coffee shop — it is a gathering place and a source of light for families and the broader community.

“We sell coffee because that’s what people come in for, but, ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we sell,” Father Donley said. “For us, it’s about dignity and the worker; and, through that, we build a sense of community. Mike and Terri always talk about shining that light of God’s grace on the disabled community for the world to see because it is a pro-life mission that the world needs to encounter.”