The Trenton Times published the following article on March 24, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Diocese of Trenton Catholic Charities celebrates its 100th anniversary

By Christina Izzo/The Times of Trenton 
on March 24, 2013 at 7:30 AM, updated March 24, 2013 at 11:39 AM

They work with the poor, the hungry and the mentally ill every day, and though the work and the conditions would wear on some, the staff and volunteers in the Catholic Charities arm of the Diocese of Trenton enjoy what they do.

“I always say that they’re like the heroes of our community, and sometimes people say ‘Well, that’s a bit much,’ but it isn’t really when you think about what they deal with every single day,” Marlene Lao-Collins, executive director of the local Catholic Charities division, said. “It’s not an easy job, so for someone to exhibit joy while doing it, it’s remarkable. It’s their joy that helps others.”

The group is celebrating its 100th anniversary of operations in the Trenton area.

Established in 1913, the division first began service at a Hopewell Township home for orphans and unwed mothers known as St. Michael’s Aid Society. They also worked to address poverty throughout Mercer County.

Since then, the agency has grown tremendously — expanding its services and coverage area to include the diocesan counties of Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean. The local Catholic Charities of today includes aid for victims of domestic abuse, programs to manage the tide of substance abuse, mental health assistance, disaster response and immigrant support services.

“As the years went on, I’d like to think that the agency kept its finger on the pulse of what was keeping people from living the kind of life that our mission says they’re entitled to,” said Francis Dolan, who headed Catholic Charities from 1988 to 2011. The local chapter was founded just three years after the national group — the National Conference of Catholic Charities — was established.

While the Catholic Church has been coming to the aid of the poor and the vulnerable for centuries, Lao-Collins said that there was a national push to organize in 1913, making the Trenton diocese’s branch of Catholic Charities one of the first five agencies of its kind.

Basic human needs were always part of the services, whether it was the nuns or the lay people

Current and past employees of Catholic Charities said that the organization has managed to thrive over the years because it keeps up with the needs of the community.

The agency continued its services for orphans and unwed mothers, but much of its funding was used to help victims of the Great Depression, when unemployment in the Diocese of Trenton’s service area soared as high as 30 percent. The Great Depression years began in 1929 with a stock market crash and continued through 1933.

With adoptions on the rise during the 1950s through the mid-1970s, the Catholic aid group continued to focus on the needs of children and adolescents and also the elderly.

It continued to operate St. Michael’s in Hopewell until 1973 when the orphanage caught on fire and had to be demolished. During that time, the agency also operated Morris Hall for the Aged in Lawrence, St. Elizabeth’s Home for Unwed Mothers and St. Dorothy’s Collier Foundation for troubled adolescents.

The agency also began to centralize its offices in Trenton. In 1960, the Guidance Clinic, a mental health clinic, opened on North Clinton Avenue in Trenton, where it still operates to this day. Also in the 1960s, Catholic Charities established a family and community service counseling program in Red Bank and Burlington City.

But as the need for orphanages and homes for unwed mothers began to drop, the need to help the mentally ill, victims of domestic abuse and substance abusers became more evident.

Not only did the focus shift, but the makeup of the welfare agency itself underwent a significant change.

With fewer clergy available and a general trend of moving away from utilizing religious members as staff, the group, known then as the Catholic Welfare Bureau, began hiring trained lay people, said Frank Helverson, who served as director of Behavioral Health Services from 1969 to 2004.

But even with the transition from nuns to lay people, Helverson said, the core mission of the agency didn’t change.

“Even though it wasn’t written down then, it didn’t change,” he said. “It was always to focus on vulnerable people, disadvantaged people, the poor. Basic human needs were always part of the services, whether it was the nuns or the lay people.”

And with new government funding available, the Catholic Welfare Bureau extended its operations by opening behavioral health and domestic violence programs in Burlington and Ocean counties.

In 1988, Dolan became the executive director and the Catholic Welfare Bureau became Catholic Charities, after The National Conference of Catholic Charities renamed itself Catholic Charities USA in 1986.

“When I started, it was a significantly smaller agency,” Dolan said. “I think we had a $7 million organization with 120 or 130 staff at the time and it has grown now to a $42 million agency with over 600 full and part-time staff. It has grown into one of the largest in the region and certainly one of the largest in the state.”

Dolan said agency programs involving the mentally ill continued to grow.

“The evolution of Catholic Charities reflects the society as a whole,” Lao-Collins said. “We pay attention to what’s happening and sometimes we pick up on things before they change.”

With a wave of new immigrants moving to the Trenton area, Catholic Charities opened El Centro in the late 1990s to help immigrants become self-sufficient.

Disaster response services were established following Sept. 11 in 2011, providing grief and trauma counseling for people in the four counties served by Catholic Charities in the Trenton diocese. The program grew to help people affected by Hurricane Katrina and was recently called into action again after Hurricane Sandy.

On Friday, The Christie administration awarded Catholic Charities $8.7 million for its Disaster Case Management. The money will be used to help residents statewide who are in need of post-Sandy assistance, marking the first time the five Catholic Charities divisions in New Jersey have worked together to put in a bid, external affairs manager Joyce Campbell said.

Catholic Charities will continue to battle against the effects of natural disasters and recessions, Dolan said.

“The challenge has never been greater,” Dolan said. “But I’m so optimistic of the stability of the organization because it focuses on its mission. It has a strong governance and body and structure and a leadership team that is very seasoned and confident. Those things give me great optimism for the future.”

To celebrate its centennial, Catholic Charities will be holding festivities throughout the year — including a 5K Run/Walk and a Family Fun Day. More information about these events can be found at www.cctrenton100.org.