Catholic Campaign for Human Development finds new home in downtown Phoenix

By J.D. Long-García | April 2, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

The Diocese of Phoenix appointed a coordinator for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholic Relief Services and Operation Rice Bowl last month.

Lisa Laliberte, who had been working with the programs at the Office of Peace and Justice, will be heading up the anti-poverty efforts from the Diocesan Pastoral Center offices. The programs had been previously overseen by Catholic Charities Community Services.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is a U.S. bishops’ effort to address the root causes of poverty in the United States through transformative education and by supporting community-controlled, self-help organizations.

“A lot of organizations that are eligible for CCHD grants aren’t aware of it,” she said. Laliberte will promote the U.S. bishops’ national effort to more organizations, including pro-life and family-centered outreach groups.

“Women and children are the largest number of people in poverty,” Laliberte pointed out. The campaign’s strategy is to empower the poor through a “methodology of participation and education for justice,” according to the U.S. bishops.

Anti-poverty programs

In the diocese, the U.S. bishops are supporting four organizations: the Tona Tierra-Macehualli Day Labor Center, Interfaith Worker Justice of Arizona, Valley Interfaith Project and the West Valley Sponsoring Committee. 

“They’re anti-poverty programs, which means advocacy, not direct service,” said Sr. Jean Steffes, CSA, who worked with Laliberte on this year’s CCHD grants.

At the day labor center, for example, workers take photographs of employers’ license plates. That way if there’s an issue with getting paid, they know who to look for.

“Without the day labor center, workers would get ripped off,” said Jonathan Bogart, who works with the local CCHD office. “One of the key elements in Catholic social teaching is the right of a person to work and receive a just wage.”

Workers are also setting up a family center at Tona Tierra-Macehualli and have planted a garden there to grow their own food.

The West Valley Sponsoring Committee, which works out of St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear, is working on safety issues in El Mirage and on housing issues in Avondale. In Sun City, the committee is making sure individuals are getting their health care needs met.

“This is the tool the bishops have to help the poor and work for justice,” Sr. Jean said of CCHD.

Response of love

On an international level, the U.S. bishops’ support anti-poverty efforts with Catholic Relief Services. Laliberte saw these efforts firsthand in India.

Catholic Relief Services supports micro-loan programs in that country, where a group of individuals will take out a loan collectively. The individuals are motivated to use the money wisely to create jobs for themselves and pay back the loans since they took out the loan in a cooperative.

“These are USCCB organizations and they’re very much an organized response of love,” Laliberte said, referencing Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est. “At the root of it is the dignity of the human person. They respond not only out of Catholic social teaching, but also Catholic moral teaching.”

Operation Rice Bowl is a Catholic Relief Services’ effort to raise awareness of global poverty and raise funds for outreach.

The move to the Diocesan Pastoral Center reflects Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s desire for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to be more closely tied to his office, according to Sr. Jean.

“He sees it tied to the role and mission of the bishop,” she said.

Laliberte will also work with the Office of Peace and Justice on the JustFaith program, which educates Catholics about issues of justice.

“There needs to be a way to address the causes of poverty to make a systemic change,” Laliberte said. Finding out how to address those root causes is what she will do in her new position.