Catholic Charities

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Catholic Charities official logo

Catholic Charities is a worldwide network of charities whose aim is to "reduce poverty, support families, and empower communities."^[1] It is one of the largest and most respected charities.^[2] Catholic Charities traces its origin to an orphanage founded in 1727 in New Orleans, Louisiana by the French Ursulines Sisters.

Catholic Charities, USA (CCUSA), with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, is recognized as one of the nation's largest voluntary social service networks. It was founded in 1910 as the National Conference of Catholic Charities. More than 1,400 agencies, institutions and organizations make up the Catholic Charities network - including individual organizations of the dioceses, such as the Archdiocese of Chicago. Nearly 90 cents of every dollar donated to Catholic Charities agencies goes directly to programs and services.^[3]

Together, with the local, diocesan Catholic Charities affiliates, Catholic Charities is the second largest social service provider in the United States and it is only surpassed by the US Federal Government. Often, this means that the CCUSA network is able to provide assistance which other agencies are simply unable to provide or in circumstances where the other assistance is insufficient to provide the necessary aid.

Providence Place: A homeless shelter operated by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami that provides transitional housing for women and children

[edit] Adoption services controversy

In 2006 Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley and leaders of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Boston formally announced the agency would terminate its adoption work, abandoning its founding mission, rather than continue complying as it had for decades with long standing state law prohibiting discrimination against gays. The Archdiocese had petitioned then governor Mitt Romney earlier that year for an exemption to the law (which he had no power to grant) and also considered a court challenge before ultimately abandoning the idea. ^[4]

A similar situation arose in the United Kingdom, resulting in the UK Government eventually backing down on the issue due to the large number of Church-run adoption agencies threatening closure.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ Catholic Charities mission statement
2. ^ "The 200 Largest US Charities". Forbes. 2007-11-21. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/14/Revenue_1.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. 
3. ^ About Catholic Charities
4. ^ "Catholic Charities stuns state, ends adoptions" (in English) (html). Boston Globe. 2006-03-11. 2. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/03/11/catholic_charities_stuns_state_ends_adoptions. Retrieved on 2006-08-25. 

[edit] See also

• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami

[edit] External links

• Catholic Charities - official website

http://www.clevelandcatholiccharities.org - Cleveland Catholic Charities

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