Catholic Charities USA was founded over a century ago by men and women who believed that the collective efforts of the church to faithfully serve people in need could change the course of poverty in our nation. At Catholic Charities we help people, regardless of their faith, who are struggling with poverty and other complex issues. At CCUSA, our advocacy and disaster relief programs — and our support of member agencies in our network — is making tangible progress toward providing help and hope to our neighbors across the country. Our collective efforts focus on a set of strategic priorities that make a difference in the lives of people in need.
As Catholic Charities, we labor in the streets inviting and serving those who have been left out to know and experience the tremendous and abundant love of God through Jesus Christ. We commit ourselves to break down walls of division that keep sisters and brothers separated from one another, excluded, or rendered disposable by our society. With joy, we resolve to build bridges of hope, mercy and justice toward the creation of a culture of communal care responsive to the cries of those who are poor.
Catholic Charities USA’s approach to migration is rooted in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching. All persons have the right to find in their own countries the opportunities to live in dignity and the right to seek work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders while affording protection to refugees and asylum seekers and respecting the human dignity and rights of undocumented migrants.
In addition to providing essential services to immigrants and refugees to the U.S., we also advocate for policies that protect family unity and allow newcomers to contribute to and more fully participate in their new communities. Catholic Charities works to welcome and integrate immigrants, refugees and asylees, assisting over 393,000 individuals over the past year.
Catholic Charities agencies provide critical assistance, logging 14,872 hours of volunteer service in 2022, comprised of over 1,200 volunteers!
Citizenship education and immigration services are offered. In 2022, Catholic Charities agencies successfully aided over 393,000 individuals!
Over 19.3 million of in-kind support was gathered during 2022.
The 167 Catholic Charities agencies across the country and in the U.S. territories often encounter our sisters and brothers at the most vulnerable times in their lives. They are seniors, veterans, natural disaster survivors, families at risk because of financial insecurities and others who feel left behind in society.
Migrants are an especially vulnerable population cared for by Catholic Charities staff and volunteers because they are on the move, far from home, and strangers in a strange land.
After being processed by federal authorities, they arrive at our sites weary from their travels. They are seeking respite — a warm meal, a hot shower and a safe place to stay for the night. Our agencies on the border are but one stop on a longer journey, from government custody to immigration court, often from poverty and peril to the hope of a permanent home, a job and an education for their children — if permitted to stay.
We serve all those in need who come to us — regardless of immigration status or faith — not because they are Catholic, but because we are. We are a church, and a nation, of immigrants.
