In 1727 the French Ursuline Sisters arrived in New Orleans and founded an orphanage, the first Catholic charitable institution in what would become the United States. Over the decades the Society of St. Vincent de Paul organized local charity efforts into a national movement that would eventually be known as Catholic Charities.
Now, there are 164 Catholic Charities agencies in the United States at 2,361 locations, serving a total of 8.7 million people. Here in the Diocese of Charlotte, Catholic Charities provided services to nearly 20,000 people in need in 2015.
The reason that Catholic Charities is so prevalent is that the Catholic Church has been, and is, dedicated to that very basic Christian call of charity: To love your neighbor. Catholic Charities takes the "Golden Rule" and organizes it as a service to the community.
In December, we entered the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, and to celebrate Catholic churches around the world literally opened their doors to invite in all who seek mercy. The word "mercy" helps define our tradition of charity. The great theologian and philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas makes a distinction between two types of mercy: affective and effective. Affective mercy is what amounts to pity – one sees the need but does not respond. Effective mercy, however, is something that we do: "It's a positive action for the good of another, it is taking steps to relieve the miseries of the other." Our tradition invites us to participate in effective mercy.
In the first several months of his papacy, Pope Francis signaled clearly to the world that mercy would be central to his ministry. He showed up at a juvenile detention center in Rome, Casal del Marmo, on Holy Thursday to wash the feet of 12 inmates. Pope Francis displayed for us that if we are indeed a people of mercy that we must attend to those who are in desperate need of that mercy.
In 2009 I visited St. Patrick Church in Washington, D.C. to attend my first Mass. For quite some time I had been contemplating what seemed like a clear call to join the Catholic Church. My visit to St. Patrick's confirmed this call – not only because I was overwhelmed with the sacredness and ritual, but because it was also the first time I saw a Catholic Charities sign. Without knowing anything more than the name, I intuitively understood that the existence of Catholic Charities must come out of a deep theological commitment to the vulnerable and those on the margins. It must offer mercy.
It does. And we saw this commitment manifested in Pope Francis' recent visit to the United States.
Pope Francis declined an invitation to lunch with some of the most powerful people in the world. His reason for saying no to the leaders of Congress: to have lunch with clients of Catholic Charities at St. Patrick Church in Washington, D.C.
In his address at St. Patrick Church, Pope Francis said:
"Jesus not only wanted to show solidarity with every person. He not only wanted everyone to experience His companionship, His help, His love. He identified with all those who suffer, who weep, who suffer any kind of injustice. He says this clearly: 'I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me.'" (Mt 25:35)
Each day at Catholic Charities we respond to this call to feed the hungry, visit the sick and welcome the stranger. And together, as people of faith and action, we fulfill the calling to be, as Pope Francis puts it, "islands of mercy in a sea of indifference."
Justin Reilly is the Asheville regional director for Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte.