The amount of suffering in the world can feel overwhelming, and Father Dave welcomes Bill O’Keefe from Catholic Relief Services to explain the important work they do in helping those in need around the globe. Bill is Executive Vice President for Mission, Mobilization, & Advocacy for Catholic Relief Services.
“We are in 100 countries around the world, partnering with the local church and others to provide basic humanitarian support, disaster support, and support for people during conflicts. [We provide] food, shelter, clothing, basic supplies,” Bill begins. “Then also, [we provide] longer term community development, like helping mothers to take care of their children in situations of chronic poverty, for example.”
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He continues, “It’s a really challenging job, but it’s the love of the Gospel brought to life and something we do on behalf of all of us, American Catholics. …If you’re an American Catholic, you are part of Catholic Relief Services. This is your organization, and this is your work around the world.”
Father Dave says, “People probably did not miss the headlines of the first couple of months of the current administration, where a lot of US aid money to other countries has been cut and has ceased. Does that put a lot of pressure on Catholic Relief Services?”
“I would say we feel like a kind of a submarine at the bottom of the ocean in terms of pressure right now,” Bill says. “We have increasing need around the world, and governments, including our own, are cutting back on their commitments to help the vulnerable. …We have our own private funding thanks to the generosity of American Catholics, but about half of our funding has been coming from the government in different ways.”
“These are funds we apply for, we compete for. It’s not like they’re given to us as some sort of charity from the government, but rather it’s we’re doing work that the government values and has seen as important,” he continues, “It’s in the interest of our country that we don’t have people who are desperate, who are vulnerable to terrorism and who are forced to migrate. So it’s in the interest of the government, but also as Catholics, in the interest of addressing poverty and vulnerability.”
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While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the world’s suffering, Bill offers ways we can make a difference. “I remember when I was a child, Pope John Paul II spoke in Grant Park in Chicago and he basically said, the youth of today escape in a number of different things, the third of which was cynicism. Cynicism is an escape from taking responsibility and living our faith. We have a lot of things we can do [to help],” Bill says. “First, pray. We believe that God and the Holy Spirit are working through us, so we need to pray that the spirit is going to continue to work through us.”
“We can support groups like Catholic Relief Services. There are other good groups as well who are providing services that make a difference. And three, we can advocate. You can tell your congressman or other elected official that you really care about these issues, and you think they need to be doing more about them. They are responsive to constituents, but you have to tell them what you think, because otherwise they don’t know.”
