The Catholic Standard and Times

Catholic Relief Services opens northeast regional office in Radnor

By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) recently opened its Northeast Regional Office in Radnor, Delaware County, and a native of the Archdiocese has been named its regional director.

Maureen McCullough, 52, a lifelong member of Annunciation B.V.M. Parish in Havertown who most recently was chair of the health-care practice group of Stradley Ronon Stevens and Young, LLP, the Philadelphia-based law firm for which she represented several Catholic health-care systems, will oversee CRS’ northeast region.

It covers the nine states of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Regions I, II and III: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

“We are delighted to open this office,” said McCullough, a 1971 alumna of Archbishop Prendergast High School for Girls in Drexel Hill who graduated from Annunciation B.V.M. School in Havertown in 1967.

“Our work will support and [help] Catholics and others in the region to meet the challenge, and [to] respond to the call and mission of solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the world,” she said.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph P. McFadden blessed the new office in Suite 501 of the Radnor Corporate Center, 100 Matson Ford Road.

The CRS northeast branch has five employees as well as volunteers and interns from Cabrini College in Radnor and Villanova University in Villanova, its two Catholic partners in higher education in the region.

McCullough is responsible for coordinating and directing CRS programs and services to U.S. Catholics in the region, including local partnerships, outreach and advocacy. As a member of the key leadership team of CRS’ U.S. Operations Division, she will manage a staff whose primary responsibilities include engaging Catholics in relationships and programs that promote international justice and global solidarity.

The northeast branch is one of three regional offices — Chicago and San Antonio are the other two — CRS has opened this year. CRS’ first regional office, in San Diego, opened four years ago. A fifth regional office is scheduled to open in the spring of 2006 in Atlanta.

CRS is the official international humanitarian agency for the Catholic Church in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in 99 countries and territories, based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed.

Prior to her work at Stradley Ronon Stevens and Young, McCullough was vice president of policy and advocacy for the Catholic Health Association of the United States, where she led the public policy and advocacy activities of the association. In a previous position as vice president for advocacy and community health for Catholic Health East, a national healthcare system, she led the implementation of the organization’s children’s health initiatives and strategic partnership with Mercy Housing, Inc. McCullough also served in the administration of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey, as special assistant to the governor for southeastern Pennsylvania.

She currently serves on the boards of trustees of Villanova University and the St. Ignatius Nursing Home. She is also a member of the Advisory Council for the Institute Justice ministry of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and has served as a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Social Development and World Peace.

McCullough received her law degree from Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. She graduated cum laude from Immaculata University in Immaculata where she received a bachelor of arts degree in history.

Joan Neal, vice president of operations for CRS in the United States, Michael Wiest, chief operating officer and Mark Palmer, chief financial officer, attended the office blessing, as did several CRS employees and coordinating partners.

For more information, contact the CRS Northeast Regional Office at 5 Radnor Corporate Center, Suite 501, Radnor, Pa. 19087; call (610) 293-4669, e-mail MmcCullo@crs.org, or access the Web site www.crs.org.

CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.