HOUSTON — When Maurice Costabile first showed up at a Houston church a few years ago, members had no clue his late father, Duilio, was a beloved TV cameraman dubbed the “Mayor of Yankee Stadium.”
They had no idea his late mother, Maria Landa, was an Ivy League-educated psychologist.
They just knew the son of Cuban immigrants looked homeless — and desperately needed a bath.
“I mean, Jesus is for everyone,” said David Duncan, preaching minister for the Memorial Church of Christ, which averages Sunday attendance of about 800. “Nobody’s going to be turned away. And he obviously had some very dire needs.”
“I mean, Jesus is for everyone. Nobody’s going to be turned away.”
Costabile, 59, who battles a variety of physical and mental health issues, saw a banner advertising the congregation at Houston’s Memorial City Mall.
He walked 1.3 miles from the shopping center to the church building, just off Interstate 10.
“Let’s be honest: There have been conversations where people are like, ‘He doesn’t need to be here. It’s not safe for our kids,’” said Mike Avery, Memorial’s community minister. “Some people don’t want him around. But that’s because the church is human, right? And they’re scared, and they’re fearful.
Maurice Costabile enjoys a moment of relaxation at the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston.
“But I’m happy that our church overall has really worked to help him and not kick him out,” Avery added. “So we’re really trying, and we’re not going to give up on him.”
Avery helped Costabile connect with Houston law enforcement’s Homeless Outreach Team and has taken him to medical appointments.
However, finding a long-term solution off the streets has proven more difficult. Costabile’s lack of official documents, such as a birth certificate or a Social Security card, complicates applying for government benefits.
“We tried to get him into a halfway house,” Avery said, “but he only lasted a few days because it’s made for people who can take care of themselves physically, and he can’t do that.”
To make Costabile more presentable for worship, the congregation began renting a hotel room to give him a shower before the Sunday service.
“He knows how to survive on the street, but he’s in terrible health,” Duncan said. “It’s not that you can save everybody, but when somebody comes into your church building, I think you have a responsibility to help.”
“It’s not that you can save everybody, but when somebody comes into your church building, I think you have a responsibility to help.”
With more than 25 nationalities represented in the pews, the Memorial congregation reflects the diversity of Houston.
Church volunteers — including an 83-year-old Jamaican immigrant named Sadie Powell and a 38-year-old Russian immigrant named Yulia Merchant — lead the effort to help Costabile.
On a typical Saturday night, Merchant, a nurse practitioner, and her three school-age sons pick up food for Costabile from Spencer Prather, one of Memorial’s children’s ministers.
The Memorial Church of Christ in Houston rents a hotel room to give Maurice Costabile a shower.
Then the mother and boys give Costabile a ride from the church building to the hotel, where they connect with Powell.
Costabile has leg wounds caused by lymphedema.
“We shower him together, and after his shower, I change any wound dressings, if needed, and wrap his legs,” said Merchant, who also spearheaded the launch of Memorial’s thriving ministry for Ukrainian refugees. “He usually gets a very good night’s sleep at the hotel.”
On Sunday morning, Merchant makes sure Costabile has breakfast and drives him to worship. Powell takes him to lunch.
Costabile has the mind of a child and can’t care for himself, Merchant said.
“If that would be my child, and God would take me to heaven, I would want my child to be taken care of,” she said of her motivation. “And Maurice is God’s child.”
Costabile told church members that he and his mother were living in an extended-stay hotel during the pandemic. But then she got into an accident and later died of COVID-19, he said.
After he wandered away from the hospital, loved ones filed a missing persons report in 2021.
“But the people who filed that have since died,” Avery said.
Memorial leaders pray that publicity about Costabile might alert relatives to his whereabouts and prompt them to contact the church.
“You got some new clothes,” Duncan, the preaching minister, said as he greeted Costabile in the church office this week.
“Yeah,” Costabile replied before turning the conversation to recent heavy rains in Houston. “It’s very bad weather out. The other day, there was a lot of thunder.”
Maurice Costabile enjoys a meal with a church member.
“I just can’t believe that you’re wearing a Mets hat,” Duncan teased, noting that Costabile’s father, who died in 2001, worked for the Yankees. “Do you like the Mets better?”
“Yeah,” Costabile replied. “They’re very, very, very nice people.”
Duncan introduced me to Costabile.
“Mr. Ross, like the store?” Costabile replied, referring to the Ross Dress for Less chain. “I heard of that. It’s a good store.”
As Powell discussed Costabile’s mental health concerns, he interjected, “I may be bipolar, but I’m pretty intelligent on stuff.”
“Extremely intelligent,” Powell agreed.
Avery describes Costabile as friendly with the mindset of a 7-year-old.
Maurice Costabile poses for a picture after getting a haircut and a shave at Great Clips.
“He loves to color and draw airplane cockpits, and he draws them to scale,” Avery said. “And his memory is incredible as far as things that happened a long time ago.
“But I always wonder: Is this guy like an angel? Or is it like, he’s one of ‘the least of these,’ and God is testing us?” the community minister added, alluding to Matthew 25. “Sometimes I wonder about that, but he’s really an interesting guy.”
David Bean, another Memorial member active in helping Costabile, came across a documentary video recounting his father’s camera work with the Yankees.
Duilio Costabile, left, shares a laugh with Yankees first base coach José Cardenal in the 2007 documentary “Duilio: Home Movies From The Bronx.” (Video still via YouTube. Warning: Video contains R-rated language)
Duilio Costabile worked alongside Yankees greats Phil Rizzuto and Bobby Murcer.
Bean played the video for Maurice Costabile.
“At first, it made me really sad because I know this life is not what his parents would have wanted for him,” Duncan said. “But it also made me think that maybe there are people out there who know him and want to help him.
“But secondly and momentarily, it made me really happy that he had an opportunity to see a video with his dad, whom he hadn’t seen in many years,” the minister added. “It brought real joy to him. He kept saying, ‘My dad! My dad!”
Maurice Costabile visits with a reporter at the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston as Sadie Powell listens.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Ross writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged, where this piece originally appeared. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.
