Catholic Charities leaders meet with President Obama on centennial anniversary

Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2010 / 05:01 am

Marking the 100th anniversary of Catholic Charities USA, leaders from the organization met with President Obama last week, who congratulated the group and recognized their decades of service to communities across the nation.

On Sept. 21, Fr. Larry Snyder, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, accompanied by executive leadership, members of the board of trustees, and diocesan directors joined President Obama for a private meeting in the Oval Office.

According to a Catholic Charities USA press release, President Obama recognized the organization for their 100 years of service, congratulated them on their centennial anniversary and discussed with them their bipartisan legislative effort aimed at poverty relief.

Greg Kepferle, CEO of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County in California told the local Morgan Hill Times that the “president was very engaging, warm, thoughtful and genuine.”

“I had the opportunity to talk about the needs of families in San Jose, the creative anti-poverty work of Catholic Charities and of our partnership initiatives,” he added.

The charitable organization celebrated their centennial Sept. 25-28 in Washington, D.C. with several noted events. An opening Mass was presided over by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president Cardinal Francis George, and a keynote address was given by president of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes.

On Sunday, Sept. 26, Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Following the liturgy, the prelate delivered a speech on the work of Monsignor William Kerby, pioneer of the Catholic Charities Movement.

Other events during the centennial celebrations included a national leadership summit with talks from international Catholic leaders, a gala concert and a day spent on Capitol Hill in dialogue with congressional district staff.