⇒ From The Catholic Times ⇒
Bishop tours social service agencies
By Tim Puet
Catholic Times Reporter
Bishop Robert Brennan said he “experienced the Church at its best” during an introductory tour that allowed him to view Christ’s love in action through the work of diocesan social service agencies at several locations in Columbus.
“It was a very positive and uplifting experience,” he said at the end of the 4 ½-hour tour on Wednesday, April 10. “What I saw today fits everything I’ve been talking about in connection with ‘the joy of the gospel’ and ‘the splendor of truth’” – phrases from Pope Francis and Pope St. John Paul II that Bishop Brennan has used often since being installed as the 12th bishop of Columbus on March 29.
“Seeing the way people work with the social service agencies and the agencies work with the community shows how we really act as church for one another,” the bishop said. “Everyone shares something, even the poorest and most vulnerable.”
After breakfast with board members of several of the agencies at The Catholic Foundation’s offices, the tour began with stops at the Catholic Social Services Our Lady of Guadalupe Center and the Seton Square West housing complex. It continued with a visit to LifeCare Alliance, which is not a Catholic agency but was the site for a monthly in-service luncheon for CSS’ Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent programs. This was followed by stops at the St. Vincent Family Center and St. Stephen’s Community House.
Everywhere the bishop went, he was greeted enthusiastically and responded in kind, briefly chatting with dozens of people throughout the day and frequently giving blessings.
He delighted those who had gathered at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Center by conversing with then in Spanish and making most of his formal remarks in that language. He originally learned Spanish when he was a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, so he could work more closely with its Latino community, which has about 500,000 people. He came to Columbus after serving his home diocese in a priestly role for nearly 30 years, the last seven as auxiliary bishop.
At the Guadalupe Center, he talked to several children, bouncing one baby in his arms and playing with a red truck offered by another child.
A woman who said she comes to the center regularly, Ana Mercedes Valle, told the bishop how appreciative she was of help she has received there from attorneys and social workers concerning immigration questions. She also talked to him about the difference the center’s food pantry has made in her life. The center was founded in 1999 and was significantly expanded in 2017 to serve the Latino community on Columbus’ west side. The pantry serves more than 3,000 people and provides more than 100,000 meals annually.
The center’s director, Ramona Reyes, who also is a Columbus school board member, said she discussed the possibility of the bishop’s speaking at a large gathering of all of the area’s Latino Catholics. He told her he would be delighted to see such an event and to speak at it.
“People meet Jesus Christ here,” Bishop Brennan said in the English portion of his talk at the center. “We bring gifts. We exchange gifts. We learn from each other because we all encounter Jesus here. As the Holy Father reminds us, there is darkness in the world, but the joy of the Gospel and the light of Jesus Christ breaks that darkness.”
About 100 people were on hand at LifeCare Alliance for the gathering of Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent volunteers. The two programs both provide low-income senior citizens with stipends in return for service, but work with people at opposite ends of the age spectrum. Foster Grandparents serve as tutors for at-risk young people, and Senior Companions provide needed help for other older people, which allows those people to stay in their homes.
Rachel Lustig, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Social Services, said the agency has about 160 Senior Companions serving about 500 people. More than 75 Foster Grandparents work with about 225 students.
The bishop couldn’t visit everyone in the half-hour he was at the training session, but spent most of his time seeing as many people as he could.
The event was highlighted by a blessing given to the bishop by Marva Simmons, head of the advisory board for the Senior Companion program. “God, you have chosen him (Bishop Brennan) for an awesome responsibility for awesome times,” Simmons said, using the rolling cadences of the Southern Gospel style of preaching. “Guide, direct and strengthen him. Surround him with people who will be a blessing to him. Every place that his feet tread, let it be blessed. Lift him above his burdens.”
“I’ve been fortunate to be blessed in meeting so many wonderful people from different communities, and you are the best,” he responded.
The tour moved from the west to the east side of Columbus for its last two stops. Upon arrival at the St. Vincent Family Center, the bishop headed straight for the playground and began pushing children on swings. After a few minutes, the 10 children on the playground gathered around him in a circle and he began singing Itsy Bitsy Spider to them, complete with hand gestures, followed by Little Rabbit Foo Foo.
The center, which began as an orphanage in 1875, has as its motto “making good kids better.” It serves behaviorally challenged children referred to it by school officials, medical personnel and the courts.
It also trains foster parents to support children who don’t have a place to call home. Last year, it supported nearly 5,300 children and families. This year, it expects that number to grow to around 6,400 because of increased emphasis on prevention and early intervention programs. It also served nearly 100,000 meals to children struggling with food insecurity.
The bishop didn’t give a speech during his stop at the center, but spent more than an hour visiting classrooms, play areas and the site’s residential area for children who are determined to need full-time care beyond the home. He also ate a lunch of cold cuts and potato salad with some of the children.
Bishop Brennan’s final stop was at St. Stephen’s Community House in the city’s Linden neighborhood. Like the St. Vincent center, it also serves at-risk children and their families. The issues its children deal with are not limited to behavior problems, but deal in a more general way with the effects of poverty, lack of food, and broken families.
St. Stephen’s is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It was founded just after World War I in 1919 on the city’s south side, then moved to Linden about a half-century later.
Having completed what already had been a busy day, the bishop then continued on what has been a whirlwind schedule by heading to Plain City St. Joseph Church to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation for the 11th time in the 12 days since his installation as bishop of Columbus. He had Confirmations scheduled at two additional sites before Palm Sunday, April 14.
He also has visited the Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus St. Stephen the Martyr Church, and several sites in Portsmouth, the southernmost point of the 23-county Diocese of Columbus, in his first two weeks as bishop.