Some of the works of charity in our Archdiocese

By Cardinal Justin Rigali

Praying for our new mayor
In this, the Bicentennial year of our Archdiocese, we are reminded that the City of Philadelphia has always held a privileged place in the portion of the Lord’s vineyard entrusted to the pastoral care of my predecessors and myself during its two hundred year history. Philadelphia was chosen by the Holy See as the seat of the diocese when it was first founded and included such a large area and, while many dioceses have been formed from that area since its foundation, Philadelphia remains the seat of the bishop of this archdiocese, so rich in history and so much associated with the history of the United States. This is why the peace and prosperity of Philadelphia is always a source of great pastoral concern. This is topical in a special way at this time as the new mayor of Philadelphia begins his term of office. As we pray for his success, this is a good opportunity for the Church to reflect on its own mission of service in and to the City of Philadelphia.

The treasure of the Church
One of the most venerated saints of the early Church was Saint Lawrence, who is believed to have been martyred in the year 258. His memory was so esteemed in the first centuries of the Church that we find his name among those specifically mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, the Roman Canon, which had already assumed its present form by the time of Pope Saint Gregory I (590-604). Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome and, as such, had care of the Church’s goods and responsibility for the distribution of aid to the poor. This was a time of severe persecution of the Church within the Roman Empire and, as Pope Saint Sixtus, under whom Lawrence served, was being led to his death, he predicted that Lawrence would follow him in three days. Lawrence spent those days distributing alms to the poor, the widows and the orphans who had been in his care. As a pretext for the arrest of Lawrence, the Roman prefect asked that the Treasury of the Church be brought to him. Lawrence went all over Rome, seeking out the poor who were supported by the Church. He gathered together a great number of them, and placed them in rows: the weak, the sick, the blind, lepers, orphans and widows. He then went to the prefect and invited him to come to see the treasure of the Church. When the prefect accused Lawrence of mocking him, he responded: “Why are you angry? These are the treasures of the Church!”

The Church of Philadelphia is privileged to be a part of the mission of service to the needy and most vulnerable in our entire community but most especially in the City of Philadelphia. I thank those of you who make this service possible by giving of your time, talent and treasure to support our works of charity. You do this by means of the Catholic Charities Appeal, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, all the volunteer services we spoke of last week, organizations such as Legatus and BLOCS and through your own parishes. Each parish that is able to be self-supporting is assessed a portion of its income each year so that we can continue to maintain our presence in parishes, institutions and schools in the Archdiocese which cannot support themselves.

In order to encourage us to an even greater spirit of service, especially during our Bicentennial year and to underline our constant wish to work with the civil authorities when possible for the good of our community, I would like to share some statistics with you. Statistics can sometimes be thought of as “cold” but please remember that behind each of them there is always a human face and for us as Christians, behind that human face there is always the face of Jesus. Therefore, as I present some statistics to you this week, I say: “Here is the treasure of the Church.”

In the area of education
There are 69 Catholic schools in the City of Philadelphia, serving 24,008 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eight. Of these, 6,221 (25 percent) are not Catholic and 10,027 (41 percent) are minority students. In our 10 high schools in Philadelphia we serve 9,612 students. Of these 1,558 (16 percent) are not Catholic and 2,744 (29 percent) are minority students. In our four schools in the Archdiocese which serve children with special needs there are 245 students. Of these 177 are residents of the City of Philadelphia and they attend Saint Lucy School for children with Visual Impairments, Saint Katherine Day School, which serves the mentally handicapped, Our Lady of Confidence Day School, serving the same needs, and Archbishop Ryan School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In addition, we have partnered with Philadelphia Safe and Sound for 10 Beacon Programs, which offer a safe haven, afterschool activities and homework assistance at the sites of 10 of our parish schools in neighborhoods where children are most “at risk.”

We are pleased to say that the current savings to the City of Philadelphia because of our Catholic schools is $334,418,140.00 yearly. This is based on the average cost per pupil to currently educate students in the Philadelphia Public School System, which is $9,947.00 yearly. A recent study presented to Pennsylvania legislators recommended spending $14,919.00 yearly per pupil in the future. This would bring the amount the City saves because of our Catholic School System to $508,576,780.00 yearly. In addition, we currently infuse $73,610,000.00 for educating our students at a current level which fortunately also benefits the city in terms of service and employment.

Catholic Human Services
Throughout the Archdiocese, we strive to carry on the mission of Jesus not only by proclaiming His message of salvation but also by carrying out the mission of charity that is part of His commands. This is why the largest division of our archdiocesan structure is concerned with what we call Catholic Human Services. This is comprised of four Divisions: Catholic Health Care Services, which primarily serves the needs of seniors needing skilled nursing assistance; Catholic Social Services, which provides a variety of social work services throughout the five-county Archdiocese; Nutritional Development Services, which provides food for poor children and the Office for Community Development, which acts as a catalyst in revitalizing and stabilizing neighborhoods. It is important to note that these works of charity not only benefit our City by helping its residents but also provide an additional tax base that benefits the City economically. For example, in addition to those who do volunteer work, our Human Services Division employs 3,048 people, who earn $63,300,000.00 in City of Philadelphia taxable wages. This returns $2,650,00.00 to the City in wage taxes, which can further benefit its citizens.

The extent of services
Catholic Human Services oversees 104 service locations throughout the Archdiocese. These include 10 group homes, 20 supported independent living arrangements, 13 Family Service Centers, 12 Mental Retardation Service Sites, 4 Senior Citizen Centers, 8 Housing and Homeless sites, 6 skilled nursing facilities, 3 assisted living facilities and an independent living unit for senior adults, just to name some of the 104 locations. In 2006 our Catholic Social Services programs benefited a total of 146,526 persons. Of the persons in our nursing homes, about 65 percent are on medical assistance; of the 3 located within the City boundaries between 63 percent and 81 percent are Medical Assistance residents.

Nutritional Development Services serves a staggering number of meals in a variety of settings, as the statistics from 2006 show. Not all of the agencies who utilize Nutritional Development Services are faith based or necessarily Catholic. Figures indicate that just in that one year, 2,814,259 school meals were served; 2,135,097 Community Food Meals were served; 1,811,952 Child Care Meals were served; 1,492,765 meals were served in conjunction with our Summer Meals Program and 324,526 Institutional meals were served.

We are pleased that the Archdiocese’s Office for Community Development, which conducts its activities solely in the City of Philadelphia, is involved in the following significant projects: physical and environmental improvements in the Kensington and Lehigh Avenue Corridor; the rehabilitation of homes in Saint Hugh Parish in the Fairhill section of the City; economic and business development and financial education in Kensington.

A large organization with a purpose
It is necessary to have a responsible structure in order to administer your charity to those in need. We strive to do this by means of the organizational structure we have in place, not in order to create a bureaucracy but in order to administer your charity in the most efficient way to the most needy and vulnerable in our community.

In Pope Benedict’s First Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, he reflected on the love of God and love of neighbor that the Gospel commands. He quoted Saint Augustine who said: “If you see charity, you see the Trinity.” Pope Benedict also spoke of charity as a responsibility of the Church. This is what we have been elaborating on in this week’s topic and so we can conclude with these words of our Holy Father on this subject: “Love of neighbor, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level. As a community the Church must practice love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community” (Deus Caritas Est, 20).

We are so privileged in our local Church to be able to be an instrument of charity, through the generosity of the faithful, that not only supports and rebuilds individual lives but also does the same for our community.
January 10, 2008