“The CCHD subcommittee will continue its work,” she said, noting that “in the interest of good stewardship, the administration of the collection is being reorganized to allow for more efficient management.”
Noguchi quoted USCCB president Archbishop Timothy Broglio’s words at the assembly when he said that “in all these discussions, the bishops’ ongoing commitment to the vital work of fighting poverty was clear.”
Johnny Zokovitch, executive director of a lay-led Catholic social justice group called Pax Christi, told CNA that he is concerned about the layoffs.
“The thing that I’m most afraid of is that it says that the Church is retreating from some of those places in our society where the Church is most needed,” he explained. “Whether it’s support for immigrants, whether it’s solidarity with marginalized communities, especially communities that are steeped in poverty, that by cutting these offices, the Church is saying that we’re retreating from that work.”
Zokovitch said the USCCB department and his organization share overlapping missions and often interact and collaborate. This shared work, he said, continues what he called a long history of the Church “standing on the side of people who are poor and marginalized, people who are victims in society, whether it’s because of conflicts and war, or whether it’s because of policies that somehow jeopardize their human dignity.”
“Jesus said he would be present where the least of our brothers and sisters are present,” he went on. “For the Church to cut these offices that were doing that work with the least of these says that we’re abandoning Jesus.”
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