Catholic Charities USA

Summary

Catholic Charities USA is a membership organization based in Alexandria, Virginia. By providing leadership, technical assistance, training, and other resources, the national office enables local agencies to better devote their own resources to serving their communities. Catholic Charities USA promotes innovative strategies that address human needs and social injustices. The national office also advocates for social policies that aim to reduce poverty, improve the lives of children and families, and strengthen communities. The Disaster Response Office organizes the Catholic community's response to disasters in the United States.

Contact Information: [ Back to top ]

Organization Details [ Back to top ]

Purpose [ Back to top ]

Catholic Charities USA is a membership organization based in Alexandria, Virginia. By providing leadership, technical assistance, training, and other resources, the national office enables local agencies to better devote their own resources to serving their communities. Catholic Charities USA promotes innovative strategies that address human needs and social injustices. The national office also advocates for social policies that aim to reduce poverty, improve the lives of children and families, and strengthen communities.

The Disaster Response Office organizes the Catholic community's response to disasters in the United States.

Mission Statement [ Back to top ]

Catholic Charities USA's expresses its mission as follows:

To provide service for people in need,

to advocate for justice in social structures, and

to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

Program Accomplishments [ Back to top ]

Local Catholic Charities staff members and volunteers help people become self-sufficient. These are some typical services Catholic Charities offer:

Adoption

Child care

Community development

Counseling

Disaster relief

Elderly services

Emergency financial assistance

Emergency shelter

Family support

Help for at-risk children and families

Housing assistance

Job training

Out-of-home care

Parenting education

Parish Social Ministry

Pregnancy counseling

Prison Ministry

Refugee and immigration assistance

Services to persons with HIV/AIDS

Social policy advocacy

Soup kitchens and food pantries

Treatment for abuse of alcohol and other drugs

Youth Services

Statement of Faith [ Back to top ]

A Statement of Ethical Norms for Member Organizations, Agencies, and Institutions of Catholic Charities USA

Preamble:
In order to remain faithful to their mission, all organizational members of Catholic Charities USA are guided by this common set of ethical norms. Their purpose is to assure that each member organization is a moral agent and that it carries out its moral responsibility as a corporate entity, which is essentially to carry out the social mission of the Church. These principles are concerned with the application of rightness, goodness, and obligation to the decisions which determine policy, procedure, and practice as well as internal and external relationships, within the context of an agency's responsibility for carrying out the social mission of the Church. The sources of these principles are found in the Scriptures, papal encyclicals, synodal and other documents that accompanied or followed Vatican II, Canon Law, the statements of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States that are relevant to the social mission, charisms of religious communities serving in the Church's social mission, and the policy statements of Catholic Charities USA.

Code of Ethics:
As a member organization of Catholic Charities USA, the member agency agrees that:

All policies, programs, and practices shall support the sanctity and dignity of human life from the moment of its conception until death, the value and integrity of the human person, the sacredness of the union of man and woman in marriage, the value of people's social relationships to one another and to community, and the central role of the family in human life and in society.

It will reach out to help those who are suffering and shall adopt, in the allocation of limited resources, a preference for serving the neediest and the most vulnerable members of the community.

It will acknowledge and support the right of all people to set and pursue their own life goals, within the limits of the common good, whereby they can freely enter into participation with others in order to fulfill their common human potential and contribute to the building of a more humane community.

It will identify itself to the pluralistic community as a means by which the Church community seeks to fulfill its social mission. It will seek full support and participation of the people of God through representation on policy-making boards of directors and advisory committees, diocesan-wide development of parish-based social ministry, and involvement of volunteers in the programs of the agency.

It will collaborate with other individuals, groups, and social agencies on issues, policies, and programs which are compatible with a Christian value system, in the interest of achieving the fullest measure of charity and justice.

In all its policies, procedures, and practices, it will be faithful to biblical values, the social teaching of the Church, and relevant sections of the code of Canon Law.

It will function faithfully within the mission and structures of the diocese with proper respect for the role of the diocesan bishop.

It will assure conformity with relevant civil law in its governance, and at the same time it will hold itself free to seek peacefully to change oppressive civil laws.

It will seek to realize in action the virtues of charity and justice in all relationships with staff, volunteers, the people served, and the larger community.

It will recognize confidentiality as a living principle within the agency and establish policies and procedures to assure protection of the privacy of the relationship established with its clients and other relevant bodies.

It will hold itself fully, consistently, and publicly accountable for its program and fiscal operations and seek objective certification that it meets those standards of quality in its performance that have been established for the field of social service, through accreditation and licensing as appropriate.

It will support and advocate for those freedoms and structures in society that contribute to pluralism in social welfare and cooperation between public and voluntary sectors.

It will subscribe to and advocate for the principle of subsidiarity, with its concern to leave the highest degree of freedom to the individual that is consonant with the common good, to recognize the family as the primary institution for meeting human needs of its members, and for active, vigorous mediating groups and voluntary organizations in society with particular reference to the parish as a caring community.

In conformity with Catholic social teaching, it will support the legitimate, necessary, and important responsibility of government for programs essential for the general welfare. This agency further agrees that it will expect all board members, committee and service volunteers, and administrative, professional and support staff to accept and conform to these organizational norms. These norms will be an essential part of orientation of new members of the staff and governing bodies. Clients who use the agency service will be helped to understand how the agency and its policies work with respect to protecting their privacy and their rights and responsibilities.

History [ Back to top ]

Before the founding of this nation, Catholic missionaries and religious orders provided charitable care for sick, widowed, or orphaned settlers. These caregivers were the first Catholic "charities." By 1900, more than 800 Catholic institutions provided care to needy people, dependent children, prisoners, elders, sick people, and people with disabilities. Significant milestones of organized Catholic charitable works include:

1727 - Ursuline nuns took in orphans.

1809 - Sister Elizabeth Seton opened an orphanage and free school for poor children.

19th Century - Ethnic parishes provided neighborhood services.

19th century - Religious orders established child care and aging institutions. In 1910, a group of Catholic social service providers, motivated by a need to "bring about a sense of solidarity," convened the first National Conference of Catholic Charities whose mission in part was to be the "attorney for the poor." The organization that later would be called Catholic Charities USA was born. The initial convening established a network of Catholic Charities bureaus. In 1922, there were 35 bureaus across the nation. In 1937, there were 68. Today, more than 1,400 agencies, institutions, and organizations make up the Catholic Charities network. One advantage to the newfound network was that services and information could be provided on a national level.

With the publication of the Cadre Study in 1972, the organization renewed its mission: to provide quality services for people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

As Catholic Charities USA heads toward a new century, the organization, through a three-year planning process called Vision 2000, is once again renewing itself. But its purpose remains constant: to reduce poverty, support families, and build communities.

Ministry Needs [ Back to top ]

This organization has not offered MinistryWatch.com with specific needs to be posted on the profile. At such a time that MinistryWatch.com receives a response from the ministry, it will be posted immediately.

Research Analysis

Transparency Grade [ Back to top ]

MinistryWatch.com 5 Star Financial Efficiency Ratings [ Back to top ]

Ranking Category	Rating	Overall Rank	Community Development Sector
Overall Efficiency Rating		83 of 353	2 of 23
Fund Acquisition Decision		156 of 353	6 of 23
Resource Allocation Decision		2 of 353	1 of 23
Asset Utilization Decision		198 of 353	9 of 23