Catholic Charities USA history

The Catholic Social Betterment League was initially formed in 1912 when representatives from eight Diocese of Spokane parishes met to explore working together to assist people with food, clothing, shelter, and medications.

In 1917 the NCCC established the Catholic Charities Review to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and theories, and a resource for those who could not attend meetings.

Come up with some ideas." As soon as the war ended in 1918 Kerby was instrumental in having O'Grady appointed secretary of the Committee on Reconstruction for the National Catholic War Council.

Catholic Charities in Washington, DC, published its first annual report for the year 1922.

Justified by the principle of subsidiarity, as discussed in Pope Pius XI’s 1931 encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno, Catholic Charities leaders on the local, state, and national levels fought for public funds, calling on government to fulfill its duty to provide relief.

Catholic University’s School of Social Work was established for men in 1934 with O’Grady as its first dean.

He was a strong supporter of the Social Security Act in 1935, and in this photo, he is meeting with Anna Roseberg of the New York regional office of the Social Security Administration.

More than 25 years later, in 1947, the NCCC established the Standing Committee of Religious to bring more religious into the leadership of the NCCC.

In March 1949, O'Grady, executive secretary of NCCC, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in opposition to legislation proposed by the Truman administration that would have created a program of federal grants to support state relief and welfare programs.

In September 1952, Truman appointed O'Grady to the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization.

1961: O'Grady retires after four decades of leadership.

Gallagher was re placed as executive secretary in 1966 by Msgr.

Lawrence Corcoran, the n in 1969 NCCC launched a three-year study, which would become known as the Cadre Study, to consider the organization's contemporary missi on.

1972: Cadre Study refines NCCC's mission.

Some of the outgrowths of the Cadre Study included the creation of th e parish outreach program in 1973.

Corcoran was succeeded as executive secretary in 1982 by Rev.

In 1983 NCCC played an important role in the creation of the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program, contribu ting about $130 million a year to local volunteer organizations.

The organization, which became CCUSA in 1986, has grown into one of the largest social welfare associations in the nation, and currently has 1,735 branches throughout the United States.

An agreement in 1990 between Catholic Charities USA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops formally tasked CCUSA with coordinating domestic disaster response efforts on behalf of the Catholic Church in the United States.

Fred Kammer, SJ, in 1992.

By 1994 contracted services acc ounted for 65 percent of the $2 billion budget.

One of the initiatives to grow out of that effort was the 1995 Racial Equality Project.

In 1997 the membership of Catholic Charities USA approved the new bylaws that would accomplish these changes and the Board of Trustees was reorganized to increase representation of diocesan directors.

Total Assets: $3 billion (2004 est.)