Catholic Charities USA holds convention in Cincinnati

By Dennis O’Connor

CATHEDRAL DEANERY — Singing "This Little Light of Mine," and walking across the Civil War-era Roebling Suspension Bridge from Covington, Ky., to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center downtown, an estimated 500 participants here for the annual Catholic Charities USA convention demonstrated their desire to lead the way out of poverty and racism in Cincinnati and the United States.

CT/E.L. HUBBARD

Cincinnati and Covington, Ky., police blocked traffic on the Roebling Suspension Bridge Sept. 15 for a march across the Ohio River by members of the Catholic Charities USA convention. The marchers, estimated at about 500, ultimately ended up at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center, situated on the Ohio side of the bridge.

"This is a wonderful way to end a day of discussion about the role racism plays in our society," said Shelley Borysiewicz, spokeswoman for Catholic Charities USA. Earlier in the day, Father Bryan Massingale and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, of Las Cruces, N.M., led discussions focused on the Catholic Charities 2007 paper, "Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good."

"From that discussion, and then actually crossing the bridge and coming up to a prayer service at the Freedom Center, I think, provides a thought-provoking visual experience of people seeking freedom" from poverty and racism, she said.

Catholic Charities USA is the national member service center for Catholic Charities offices across the United States, and it works to provide strong leadership and support to enhance the work of local agencies in their efforts to reduce poverty, support families and empower communities. Founded in 1910 on the campus of Catholic University in Washington, D.C., the agency always has sought to be a source of solidarity for local efforts at bringing the fruits of Catholic Social Teaching to the faithful and their communities.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati and its office of Catholic Charities were convention sponsors.

Many convention-goers, who had been in town since Sept. 13, were able to see firsthand the efforts to rebuild community in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, epicenter of the race riots that occurred in Cincinnati in 2001. A busload of Catholic Charities personnel from across the United States visited Mercy St. John near Findlay Market, as well as Franciscan Village near St. Francis Seraph Church, among other stops.

"It’s almost overwhelming how close everything is to each other here," said Catholic Charities spokeswoman Colleen Sutton. Standing at about 12th Street in Over-the-Rhine, and looking south towards downtown, she added that the juxtaposition of the two districts — the former working class neighborhood that at one time was home to 50,000, and the heart of the city — provided an interesting backdrop for the national convention.

Convention-goers gathered for a liturgy Sept. 15 prior to the bridge-walk at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky., where Covington Bishop Roger Foys and Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk presided.