Follow Me A one-hundred-year-old love story By Bishop Terry R. LaValley

June 21, 2017

We look across our blessed nation, one of the richest and most powerful in the world, and continue to see a shocking reality.

Tens of millions of people lack some of the most basic necessities of life.  So many of our young and elderly folks, our neighbors, are vulnerable, scared, and hurting.

For the last one hundred years, Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Ogdensburg has been providing a broad array of services in response to the Lord’s command to love God and our neighbor. 
For generations, parishioners have generously supported these efforts.

We congratulate our Catholic Charities on reaching this century mark of providing pastoral care to people in need. 

We express sincere appreciation to all those whose generous support enables Catholic Charities to be such an effective expression of Jesus’ love.

Sister Donna Franklin, DC, Director of Catholic Charities, and her predecessors have provided inspiring and creative servant leadership enabling the Church over the last century, to fulfill its responsibility to respond to the needs of our vulnerable sisters and brothers.

The mission of Catholic Charities is based on Gospel values of respect for the dignity and sanctity of every human life, charity and justice.  Catholic Charities is gifted with a staff of many dedicated women and men who bring their faith, expertise, and Christian values to their outreach and advocacy efforts. Some of these services include:  direct aid, adoption, coordinated children’s services initiatives, public policy advocacy, anger management groups, counseling, ombudsman program, parenting classes, maternity services, offender accountability groups, Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Seaway House, Speaker’s Bureau, and education on human trafficking.

In his encyclical Caritas in veritate (Charity in Truth, 2009), Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that we must apply moral principles and Catholic social teaching to today’s economic and social problems. 

Jesus Christ embodies what it is to live a fully human life.  He is the model of how we are called to live.  America will never be great again until we give more tangible outward expression of the goodness that lies deep within each of us. 

Such goodness is reflected in our attentiveness to poverty and development, protection and respect for every human life, concern for the common good, care for creation, work for peace, and insistence on religious freedom.
The Gospel is proclaimed not only in the pulpits of our parishes, but also in the everyday lives of people through the ministry of Catholic Charities.

We congratulate Sister Donna and her staff on this special milestone in the one-hundred-year-old love story of Catholic Charities in the North Country. 

Thank you for living the Gospel call to love and care for our neighbor.