By Deacon Lucio Caruso
Pope Francis has declared that the universal Catholic Church will observe a Jubilee Year of Mercy from Dec. 8, 2015, to Nov. 20, 2016.
Pope Francis encourages us, by saying “It is my burning desire that, during this jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.”
How fitting that Pope Francis recently said this in a message to us at our Catholic Charities annual national assembly: You are the engine of the church that organizes love — caritas — for all believers to work together to respond to the needs of the poor and vulnerable through the corporal works of mercy. You set the pace for the church to be in the world each day.
As a Catholic Charities agency, we bring organization and skill to acts of charity and justice on behalf of the entire Archdiocese of Louisville and provide resources for this work to be performed within parishes and the broader community. We are all Catholic Charities!
As you are aware, our archdiocese is responding to the call of the jubilee year through a series of activities, one of which Catholic Charities has a lead role to invite parishes, schools and all the Catholic faithful to more intentionally practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We are developing a process to educate, record and report on some of the best practices God’s people are engaged in.
Together with our parishes, we live out these works of mercy by taking direct action to relieve the burdens of those in crisis, and at the same time move those we serve as much as possible to the dignity of self-reliance.
We are equally involved in leading advocacy efforts to speak up for the poor and vulnerable, and try to reform structures which cause or perpetuate their conditions.
In all of our services and programs, we recognize the dignity of everyone we encounter and that we are all God’s children embraced by God’s mercy, and brothers and sisters to one another.
It is this sense of solidarity that is at the heart of what we do and what we invite others to experience as they volunteer and serve with us. In this involvement, we provide opportunities for parishioners and parishes to put their faith into action and join Pope Francis in being a church that goes out to the peripheries to bring the mercy and compassion of Christ to all.
Along with our ongoing human service programs — such as the Sister Visitor Center, Refugee Resettlement, Immigration Services, Mother Infant Care and Human Trafficking, to name a few — we are engaged in social enterprise initiatives, such as our Common Earth program, which involves some eight community gardens, most on parish properties, and our Common Table Culinary Arts program that teaches food service skills to low income poor, those coming out of prison and refugees.
We are also providing more direct support to parishes in how to do outreach through training and partnership programs, such as Serving Hope in Bologna Alley, which provides case management to lunch guests at the Cathedral of Assumption.
We have a number of lead and support roles in the new archdiocesan strategic plan, which has given more impetus to a church that reaches out in service to the world. Together we can bring the mercy of Christ to central Kentucky.
Deacon Lucio Caruso is director of mission integration at Catholic Charities of Louisville.
