Reflections on Our Mission: What Are Blessings?
by Liz Turnbaugh Thirty years ago someone came to my home parish, St. Charles Borromeo, to speak about Our Daily Bread (“ODB”) and the ministry of making casseroles to feed the hungry. What I was like then is not what I’m like today. At that time I collected money for ODB. I belonged to a [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: The Value of Love
by Vickie Hammond Love: A virtue representing human kindness, compassion and affection. This definition of that very powerful word is part of the legacy we are celebrating during Catholic Charities’ very first Mission Awareness Month. Love in the context of a workplace could be conceptually challenging. Interestingly enough, though, I experienced just the opposite effect [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: Supporting Children
by Kevin Keegan The services we offer in the Child and Family Services Division are ever-evolving while our basic values stand firm. Whether we are looking at the beginning of our work well over 100 years ago (mostly comprised of orphanages and adoptions) or to our current work (evolving to more home and community-based work) [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: Recognizing Love
by Father Ray Chase Love is an odd thing… so profoundly desired yet seemingly so elusive… until, in a moment of surprise, we recognize it! I can’t tell you how many of these utterly unique and wondrous moments I’ve witnessed over the years at Catholic Charities. I wish I had written them down so at moments [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: Poverty is an accident of birth
By Dale McArdle My daughter, Flannery, is spending a year in Africa, first in Rwanda and now in Uganda working for Plan International. Reading her blog is inspiring. I was very taken by these words she wrote about poverty, concluding that as much as any other reason; it is an accident of birth: “Purely because [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: Love is a simple but powerful word
by Frances Callis Love – I think this is a very misused word. We say we love this and we love that. The movies, media, social standards have conditioned us to use the word with significant others in a not so romantic but physical manner. This little word has been so misused. It is the [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: Living Beyond My Experience
by Amanda Ressin Live beyond your experiences. I believe that every day is a chance to help someone and make a difference in at least one person’s life. Throughout my life, there has been an abundance of people who have affected me both positively and even negatively; I look at these instances as forms of [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: Listen to Your Heart
by Ezra Buchdahl There have been so many inspiring and heartwarming memories from the past 25 years with Catholic Charities. The most recent moment that took my breath away was a few weeks ago when a girl who is residing in one of our diagnostic units came to my office and asked if she could [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: I See Love
by Aileen McShea Tinney I see Love in answering the phone when it rings... to be there to help someone when they need it. I see Love in calling for a positive change to support both staff and residents. I see Love in consciously working to be present in every moment with colleagues, families, residents, applicants, [...]
Reflections on Our Mission: I am Proud to Work Here
by Ifeoma Okolo A few years back, one of the staff in a respite program passed on, his name was Eddie Jones. As the accountant for that respite program, I had over the years reconciled his payroll, analyzed his receipts and expenses, calculated his targets and tracked his productivity and he was stellar in all [...]