On Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we begin a Holy Year focused on a hallmark theme of this papacy – the boundless mercy of God, "Be merciful just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36). In announcing an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy throughout the world, Pope Francis promulgated in the papal bull, "Misericordiae Vultus": "It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty. And let us enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God's mercy. Jesus introduces us to these works of mercy in his preaching so that we can know whether or not we are living as his disciples. Let us rediscover these corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead."
During this Year of Mercy, Catholic Charities will engage in a number of activities to share how, working together, our diocesan faith community carries out the work of mercy and charity for the most vulnerable in our midst.
Catholic Charities partnered with St. Matthew Church to distribute bins of Thanksgiving food Nov. 23 to 100 Charlotte families in need. St. Thomas Aquinas Church also brought 20 bins. Each reusable bin contained food used to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and other staples. Families also received a $20 gift card to a local grocery store to buy turkey, ham and other perishable foods. Many other Charlotte area parishes made donations to the food pantry during the week for the Thanksgiving holiday, including St. Gabriel, St. Joseph Vietnamese and St. Ann. Catholic Charities also supports parish holiday outreach efforts at St. John Neumann, Our Lady of Consolation, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Americas parishes with turkeys, food bins and gift cards. (Photo provided by Kathleen Durkin, Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte)Our work during the Year of Mercy continues many decades of services across our diocese. Last year, for example, your contributions to the Diocesan Support Appeal, individual donations and the support of parishes enabled Catholic Charities' staff and volunteers to serve more than 19,000 of our poorest neighbors in need. In very real terms, the local Church helped feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick and bury the dead.
Our website, www.ccdoc.org, contains information about the number of clients served in various programs, the geographic locations of our offices, and the use of funds as demonstrated by our annual audit. Those disclosures are a critical element of transparency by permitting you, our partners in mercy and charity, to better understand how their beneficence was put to work last year in this ministry.
But even more important to me during this jubilee year is the expression of deep humility and exceptional pride in the professional staff and dedicated volunteers who, through the financial sacrifices of our benefactors and supporters, are able to perform works of mercy and charity under the auspices of the Church in the Diocese of Charlotte. Although we are all called to do more and to be more closely conformed to the call of the Gospel, it is abundantly clear from countless interactions I have that our faith community is filled with so many people of faith and good will who do "reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy" and who have not "grown dull in the face of poverty" but respond to the poor and marginalized among us with generosity, kindness and compassion. Those whom we are privileged to serve are the concrete recipients of reawakened consciences I witness every day in this ministry.
I close with a request for your prayers that Catholic Charities always reflect the love of God through our combined works of mercy and charity.
Dr. Gerard A. Carter is the executive director and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte.