Buffalo's Bishop Richard J. Malone will dedicate and bless the Mother Teresa Home on Thursday, Aug. 25, the eve of Mother Teresa's birthday.  Located at the former St. Adalbert Church rectory, 208 Stanislaus St., Buffalo, the home will serve as a temporary residence for homeless, pregnant women and young mothers while transitioning back into the world.

"At Pope Francis' suggestion," said Bishop Malone, "I have designated an 'institutional expression of mercy' within the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo as a memorial in the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy."

The Mother Teresa Home, the vision of Pro-Life Director Cheryl Calire, will provide a community living experience with rooms for several women and their infants.  Residents will share common living spaces and household chores.  In addition, they will attend classes covering topics such as parenting, child development and budgeting.   The adjacent Response to Love Center will help the women learn marketable skills.  Calire and her husband have given up their suburban residence to live at the Mother Teresa Home and see this project through to its fruition.  Down the road, they plan to hire a live-in coordinator for the home.

The program for Aug. 25 begins at 4 p.m. with Mass, followed by the dedication and veneration of the St. Gianna relics.  Tours of the Mother Teresa Home will take place from 5:30-8 p.m.

Mother Teresa will be canonized on the eve of the anniversary of her death, Sept. 4.

St. Gianna Molla, patron of pro-life activities, was a physician who was told she had cancer while she was pregnant with her fourth child.  She asked the surgeon to save the life of her unborn child above all else; he did and her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born on April 21, 1962.  St. Gianna, only 39 years old, died a week later after extensive efforts to save her life.  Canonized on May 16, 2004, she is known as the first canonized woman physician and professional.

For more information on the Mother Teresa Home and the dedication, contact the diocesan Office of Pro-Life Activities at 847-2205.