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Perhaps its own tea party movement is brewing within Catholic Charities.

Change is needed at a grassroots level - starting with people in the pews - to fix the growing national poverty crisis, leaders of northeastern Catholic Charities agencies said on Monday.

The largest private network of social service organizations in the U.S., Catholic Charities aims to cut poverty in half by 2020.

"The solution will not come from Washington," said Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, at a regional leadership summit held in Albany. "Local problems will need local solutions."

He explained the situation: One in five Americans lacked money to buy food last year, and 38 million currently receive food stamps. Catholic Charities served one in four of people living below the federal poverty level last year and has seen increased requests for emergency services.

"From a Judeo-Christian perspective, poverty means that the covenant with God has been ruptured," Catholic Charities USA wrote in a 2006 public policy paper. "Our relationship with God is not in right order, and the injustice of poverty and extreme inequality cries out for change."

Father Snyder said the goal was certainly possible, noting that American leaders chopped the poverty rate from 22 percent to 11 percent between 1958 and 1971.

"They did not look around for signs of hope," he said. "They determined to be signs of hope for the people of their generation. The lesson that we should learn from our history is that we should do the same."

To achieve change, leaders must promote service, which can be easier than giving money, said one woman at the event. For instance, she added, a family can take in a homeless person or devote its yard to a community garden for poor people to grow vegetables.

Another participant called for collaboration with interfaith and secular organizations, as well as corporations.

Laypeople must be encouraged to join the fight, leaders agreed. Catholics tend to oppose immigration more than the rest of the population, and this should not be, Father Snyder said. He noted widespread resistance to healthcare reform.

Another participant said Catholic Charities needs an engaging narrative. "If we don't find a way to make our stories more palatable to Washington, we're working at different ends," said Carolyn Portanova, president of the Catholic Family Center in Rochester.

Legislators need to know how social service work can save the government money, she said; for instance, job development has the potential to ease the strain on the prison system.

Catholic Charities USA advocates for progressive tax policies that will benefit lower- and middle-income taxpayers, universal health insurance coverage, the creation of more affordable housing and the improvement of the Earned Income Tax Credit to be more inclusive.

Also at the summit, participants heard from the New York State human service secretary and the U.S Census Bureau poverty and health chief. The Diocese of Albany received the Catholic Charities USA Centen-nial Award of $25,000 for Wheels for Work, a program that refurbishes donated vehicles to give to local public assistance recipients.

Sister Maureen Joyce, RSM, received the 2010 Bishop Fran-cis J. Mugavero award for her contribution to charity and social justice on a statewide level. She has been with Albany diocesan Catholic Charities for 39 years, the last 20 as executive director.

She previously received the Centennial Award from Catholic Charities USA for her national leadership on social justice.

"She's been receiving so many awards lately that I've almost run out of nice things to say about her," said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard.

Sister Maureen, who has been in ill health from cancer, said she was humbled by the award and privileged to have served the cause of charity and social justice.

(Christopher D. Ringwald contributed to this story).

(03/11/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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