Creating opportunities for service and encounter

Just days have passed since Christmas, and yet what a dramatic transition we have experienced. The one we spent weeks preparing for, at last, has arrived. As the Scripture so recently shared, the shepherds, awestruck at having found the infant Jesus lying in a manger, left joyfully to spread the news. All who heard it were amazed.

How often do we feel amazed by someone we’ve met? By something we’ve heard or seen? How often do we feel awestruck by an experience or encounter? How often do we allow ourselves to be that open, that vulnerable?

Christmas Day may have passed, but still we are invited to celebrate and carry on this season of awe and amazement. Into our midst, a child was born. What is more awesome than that? To brighten this darkness, a light. We are reminded to seek him, every day, among us. To be open and vulnerable to his presence in our lives. To allow him to work through us and in us.

One important way that we are called as Catholics to do so is through service. This time of year, as we contemplate and reflect on why we are here and what positive change we can spark in our lives and in our world, I invite you to consider how you can help develop a culture of true encounter. Encounter is not indifference. It is not passing by. It is stopping and sitting. It is not feeling pity for those who are different, nor judgment for the burdens they carry, but feeling compassion, hope and, yes, awe at what they carry and how they carry it.

At Catholic Charities, in this new year, we are inviting our partners — such as you, your fellow parishioners, and all throughout the archdiocese — to consider how you can answer the call to serve and open your hearts and spirits to the possibility of true encounter.

Last year, Catholic Charities team members spoke with more than 100 volunteers, priests and partners from across the region to gain feedback and perspective to develop a new Faith in Action strategy. The goal of this strategy is to engage those who feel called to volunteer and promote high-quality pathways of service. Through deep reflection and planning, we centered this strategy and these pathways on what makes service at Catholic Charities truly special and unique, and that was the opportunity for encounter.

Together, with meaningful impact and lived faith, encounter is one of the key elements of our Faith in Action strategy.

Keeping encounter at the forefront, Catholic Charities developed a set of principles to ensure that service opportunities center the needs of the people we accompany and, at the same time, are meaningful for volunteers and partners.

The first of these principles is that every service experience should foster spiritual and cultural growth. Service recognizes that the mission of charity is a lifelong commitment beyond the holiday season.

Second, service opportunities should provide positive engagement with the rich diversity of God’s people, Catholic beliefs and Catholic Charities as an organization.

Third, volunteers should be confident they are helping deliver substantive impact for the people Catholic Charities serves while being of use to those in need. To do this, our volunteer programs should be high quality and accountable, with thoughtful design, quality oversight and performance goals.

Finally, and most importantly, service opportunities must be open to all. Financial means should not determine who serves or is served. Financial means also should not define how volunteers are engaged or with whom Catholic Charities partners. All are welcome in this place.

Christmas Day at Catholic Charities was a beautiful example of this radical welcome in action. Over 200 people and dozens of volunteers came in from the cold for a hot meal at our downtown Chicago center. Dozens of people traveled from their homes or from the streets to gather, to eat, to serve, to celebrate together, as they do every weeknight of the year.

Before each volunteer shift began, our staff reminded volunteers that so many of our guests — most of whom are unhoused and live daily with food insecurity — have grown accustomed through their experiences on the streets to people looking away from them. Rarely will passersby look them in the eye. We encouraged our volunteers to look at our guests, to see them, to make them feel welcome.

I encourage you to join me in seeking new ways to embrace a spirit of encounter in your lives this New Year, and to continue discerning how you are being called to serve. We are grateful for the encounters we have every day with the people we serve and the people we serve alongside, which so often do leave us, like the shepherds, amazed and joyful.

 Continued blessings and joy in this season of awe.