April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ANNUAL DINNER
Catholic Charities contemplates future
We have mourned the loss of our inspirational leader and friend, executive director Sister Maureen Joyce, RSM. We have been faced with the reality of a fragile economy and the diminishment of public and private funding.
Several of our agencies have lived the unpleasant reality of downsizing programs and retrenching staff - many, with years of dedicated service.
We have continued to be challenged by growing needs, despite dwindling human and financial resources. We have been asked to do more with less, to stretch staff and resources already at their limits, and to call forth new energy and creativity in service of our mission.
Agency directors, boards, staff and volunteers have responded with tenacity and an unfailing commitment to the poor and vulnerable among us. We have continued to be faithful to our mission, our tradition and our legacy of hope and resilience. We remain strong and committed to the sustainability of service into the future.
Despite the challenges, 1,127 staff and 1,095 volunteers provided a wide array of services to 123,561 people across our Diocese - including 45,600 children, 61,561 adults and 15,500 elderly persons.
Across the 14 counties of the Diocese, Catholic Charities provides a myriad of services: help for those with developmental disabilities; elder care; services for with HIV/AIDS, pregnant and parenting teens and those struggling with domestic violence, mental health and addiction; mentoring; senior, single-room occupancy and group housing and shelters; a community home for the dying; immigration and refugee resettlement; case management; summer camp; dispute resolution; prison reentry; child and adult day care; "Wheels to Work;" translation services; transportation and basic need and emergency assistance.
With an eye toward how the most vulnerable are faring, Catholic Charities continues to be committed to developing diverse responses to local needs. The future, however, calls us to think outside the box, to prioritize and be open to new ways of conducting business.
We will be called to find new means to serve, to empower, to ensure the basic rights and dignity of all people. We will be challenged to attentive listening to one another's ideas, experiences and dreams for shared efforts on behalf of those who need us.
Each of us will be asked to go beyond our personal comfort zone - perhaps to relinquish resources, programs or staff for the common good. We will need to become more "whole-centered" rather than "self- or agency-centered." We will be challenged to give up the competitive stance in favor of the collective system approach, focusing on the needs of the community versus self-sustenance and individual survival.
We will feel the pain and discomfort of change; but I have great hope that we will also be inspired and infused by our commitment and dedication to our common vision to be catalysts in our work against injustice and the reduction of poverty.
Together, we can be the conscience of our communities and our government, creating an atmosphere that lessens the distance between "the haves and the have-nots," where the poor and the vulnerable become empowered to share their stories and become full participants in working toward solutions.
We cannot do this alone. We will need to engage all of our communities to ensure the availability of a spectrum of programming aimed at the promotion of human well-being and quality of life.
Our services must be accessible to all and utilize the resources of individuals, families, business, Church and community. We must convey deprivation to those who do not share this condition.
The future demands that we respond to human suffering with a range of personal and corporate resources. The difficult task of implementing this vision is in many hands.
This call to action may sound too hard, too challenging, too overwhelming, given our current reality. But we in Catholic Charities have everything we need to journey forward: commitment to Gospel living, individual and collective spirituality, talent and skill, vision, creativity, a passion for the work and a legacy that risks everything for the mission.
Think of those on whose shoulders we stand: Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, [previous Catholic Charities directors] Sisters Serena Branson and Maureen Joyce, hundreds of committed staff, volunteers, local boards of directors and trustees, and our external partners and collaborators.
Let us go forward with our collective wisdom, our ability to work incessantly to effect change, and our courage. And let us always care for and support each other on the journey.
Sister Charla, who has been interim CEO for diocesan Catholic Charities, delivered these remarks at the agency's annual dinner on June 7. Vince Colonno, the new CEO, will take on the role in July and be profiled in an upcoming issue of The Evangelist.[[In-content Ad]]
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