by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann
The Nov. 29 edition of The Leaven included a Community Report from Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, providing information on the numbers of individuals served (70,453), the dollars spent (more than $30 million), the value of the food distributed ($10.8 million), the number of volunteers (more than 9,000), the hours donated (158,329) and the financial worth of their volunteerism (more than $5 million).
The breadth of Catholic Charities’ ministry is astounding. Shalom House is a shelter for homeless men that not only provides a warm place to sleep, but also the services and resources to break free from the cycle of homelessness.
Catholic Charities operates Family Support Centers in Atchison, Kansas City, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Olathe, Overland Park, and Topeka. The Family Support Centers provide food, rent and utility assistance, and case management to identify the underlying reasons causing the need for emergency assistance, and offer long-term solutions. The Catholic Charities’ Resource Bus brings similar services to rural communities.
The St. Rita program provides opportunities for individuals to receive the education and skill development to earn an income that will make them self-sufficient. Catholic Charities provides both pregnancy assistance and adoption services.
The federal government determines who qualifies for refugee services. For those who do, Catholic Charities provides an entire range of services to help refugees find housing, gain employment and acquire financial literacy. The New Roots program provides refugees a quarter acre of land to grow food as well as the ability to sell their produce at farmers markets.
These are only a few of the more than 30 ministries that Catholic Charities operates that meet the immediate, emergency needs of individuals and families as well as offer opportunities to escape the cycle of poverty. Catholic Charities is not just about numbers of clients or the dollar value of the services provided, but about the transformation of the lives of individuals and families they serve. I encourage you to go to the Catholic Charities website (catholiccharitiesks.org) and view some of the brief, inspiring Hope Stories — testimonies of individuals whose lives have been changed.
One of the great traditions of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas is giving parishioners the opportunity to support Catholic Charities on Christmas Day. In addition to supporting your parish on Christmas, it is important that on the day we celebrate God’s remarkable generosity of entering into the poverty of our human condition by being born into the humble conditions of a cave in Bethlehem, we help those in our own community who are materially poor.
How can we fail to give a gift to the one whose birthday we celebrate on Christmas Day? We know what gifts he most desires — feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and providing shelter to the homeless. A donation to Catholic Charities allows you to be part of this incredible ministry of mercy that is happening every day in the archdiocese.
Consider giving yourself a gift by becoming a Catholic Charities volunteer or perhaps a monthly donor. God became poor so that we could share in the riches of his abundant life. How can we fail to give the gift Our Lord most desires?
