Catholic Charities is a network of charities with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, that aims "to provide service to 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." It is one of the largest charities in the United States.
Founded in 1910 as the National Conference of Catholic Charities, the organization changed its name in 1986 to Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA). In 2010, Catholic Charities' centennial year, more than 1,700 agencies, institutions and organizations composed the Catholic Charities network, including individual organizations of the dioceses, such as the Archdiocese of Chicago. About $2 billion of its budget comes from the Faith-Based Initiatives Office of the federal government. Nearly 90 cents of every dollar donated to Catholic Charities agencies goes directly to programs and services. In 2008, Catholic Charities agencies served over 8 million individuals.
Together with the local, diocesan-associated Catholic Charities, it is the second largest social service provider in the United States, surpassed only by the federal government. Since February 2005, its president has been Rev. Larry Snyder, who previously served for 13 years with Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Catholic Charities USA is a member of Caritas Internationalis, an international federation of Catholic social service organizations.
Read more about Catholic Charities: National Association, Accountability, History, Same-sex Marriage and Homosexual Rights Issues
Famous quotes containing the words catholic and/or charities:
“I maintain that I have been a Negro three times—a Negro baby, a Negro girl and a Negro woman. Still, if you have received no clear cut impression of what the Negro in America is like, then you are in the same place with me. There is no The Negro here. Our lives are so diversified, internal attitudes so varied, appearances and capabilities so different, that there is no possible classification so catholic that it will cover us all, except My people! My people!”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The wonderful purity of nature at this season is a most pleasing fact.... In the bare fields and tinkling woods, see what virtue survives. In the coldest and bleakest places, the warmest charities still maintain a foothold.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)