Catholic Charities marks centenary of serving those in need

The problems that face the poor and needy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore are not intractable, and in fact, they energize the leaders, staff and volunteers for Catholic Charities of Baltimore.

“We always have hope,” said William J. McCarthy Jr., executive director of the agency, which is the largest nongovernmental provider of social services in the state. “We have to be a beacon of hope for our community and our neighbors as well. And I have hope. It’s these encounters every day that just reenergize you to do more.”

It has been 100 years since Archbishop Michael J. Curley consolidated the various service ministries under one umbrella organization as Associated Catholic Charities, but the work goes back to 1792, just a few years after the founding of the Diocese of Baltimore in 1789 when then-Bishop John Carroll directed parishes to use one-third of their resources to care for the poor, McCarthy said.

Some of that effort in the early decades supported orphanages – as many as 22 in the mid-1800s – a situation that has transformed over the years. “The St. Vincent’s Villa that you see today isn’t the same as the St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum that existed back in the 1850s, but it is providing loving care to children in need,” he said.

“I think of our journey as both meeting the present needs of our neighbors and anticipating and seeking what’s next,” he added.

“We have had this view that we needed to meet the needs of people, regardless of what those needs were. If there were unmet needs and others were not doing it, we would step up to help address those needs,” McCarthy said. “I think it starts with that view of our roles – our role as Catholics, our role as neighbor, our role as parishioner – and we had this fearless intensity about how we go about it.”

It is nearly impossible to look at any place where people are struggling within Baltimore City and the nine counties that comprise the Archdiocese of Baltimore – the impact of poverty, violence, poor health care, lack of education, addiction – and not see the presence of the archdiocesan charities agency. It is the third-largest Catholic Charities agency in the country, despite Baltimore, with about 505,000 Catholics, not being among even the top 25 dioceses, based on the number of Catholics.

As part of its 100th anniversary celebration, Catholic Charities launched a Greater Promise capital campaign in December 2021, with an announced goal of $75 million. As 2022 comes to a close, the campaign has already surpassed $100 million to support two pillars of the campaign: to sustain and grow what has been working and to innovate and develop the next stages of the agency’s service.

Among the projects underway is a new Gallagher Day Center supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in living the life of their choice. 

The campaign also supports a new intergenerational engagement center – with an early learning component, a rec center, basketball courts, picnic areas and green space, and a community center with health services. “Our theory of change here is when you work with all generations, a multigenerational approach, you’re much more successful in breaking the cycle of poverty and creating a healthy and vibrant community,” McCarthy said, noting that the project can be replicated not only in other areas of Baltimore but in other parts of the country.

A larger capital initiative is the redevelopment of the Cherry Hill Town Center, which Catholic Charities first purchased 26 years ago. The redevelopment effort will include a branch of the Enoch Pratt Library, a Chase bank, a pharmacy, community market, laundromat and barber shop.

“Being partnered with the community and what the community desires and needs is incredibly important. We believe that our partnership in the Cherry Hill Town Center, in that community collaboration, will be a catalyst for further growth, development and sustainability of Cherry Hill as a vibrant community,” he said.

McCarthy cites the supportive leadership of Baltimore archbishops over the years, including Archbishop William E. Lori, who with McCarthy and a few others toured Sandtown-Winchester the day after the Freddie Gray riots in 2015. McCarthy recalled visiting the area with his own father after the 1968 riots – and realizing not much had changed.

After the 2015 visit, “I realized we had been providing services, one form or another, to 20 percent of the people who lived in the 21217 ZIP code. But … what do I have to show for it? Two weeks later, I went to our Head Start site in Sandtown, and the site director told me – three classrooms, 50 children – that seven of these children had lost a father or a grandfather to gun violence that school year.”

He realized that the violence did not impact only those 3- and 4-year-olds directly affected by those deaths. “That means every child in that classroom – (including) the other 43 – have certainly been traumatized and impacted by gun violence.”

As a result, in 2016, Catholic Charities opened its first Safe Streets program in the old convent at St. Peter Claver in West Baltimore. In the following year, in that police precinct, “shootings were down 50 percent and deaths by gun were down 85 percent. It’s not the cleanest work. It’s really talking about meeting people where they are and being peacemakers and interveners,” he said. In 2019, a second Safe Streets site was opened at St. Rose of Lima in Brooklyn to similar success; two more sites will open in the coming year.

“These programs work not always perfectly, but it’s life-saving work,” McCarthy said.

The centennial celebrations in 2023 will include community events throughout the archdiocese. The agency will launch a symposium on social justice that is planned to be an annual event, with the first one April 20 to address racism and racial inequity with theologian Dr. Greer Gordon. The symposium will be held at Church of the Nativity in Timonium and livestreamed to dozens of parishes, schools and community centers throughout the state. “We want these symposiums to be catalysts to action. And action takes place on your block, in your home, locally,” he said.

And after a several-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the dragon boat races will be back in the Inner Harbor in September.

Now in his 14th year leading Catholic Charities of Baltimore, McCarthy, who came to the agency from a career in banking, sees the centennial as a celebration of joy. 

“It’s not only serving our neighbor, but it’s through accompanying our neighbor that our lives are improved,” he said. “I think I’m a better person today, a better leader. I’m a better neighbor, stronger in my faith, and I’ve grown. I can say that for all of my nearly 2,000 colleagues as well. So, I think this ministry, like any ministry done well, gives us the opportunity to grow.”

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org

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