BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Myles McCabe, who joined the staff of Catholic Social Services in October, has the multifaceted task of strengthening ministries to those in need throughout the archdiocese and making clearer the connection between those projects and the Gospel.

He comes to the Archdiocese of Atlanta from the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., where he served as executive director of the archdiocesan Peace and Justice Center for five years and as associate director for education and advocacy for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Louisville. He was in Louisville from 1990 until he accepted the CSS post.

Before his work in the Louisville Archdiocese, McCabe was director of the peace and justice ministry for the Diocese of Lansing, Mich., for seven years, from 1983-1990, and prior to that he held the same post in the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., from 1980-1983. He was elected to the board of Roundtable, a national organization of social action directors for a six-year term.

His work at CSS, where he has been named program director for Community Connections/Parish Social Ministry, includes the tasks of helping identify and provide direct services to people in need, providing education in social ministry, empowering people who are in need and advocating for social change.

The key word in his job title seems to be "connections," which he is expected to make at the various levels of the archdiocese among those interested in social ministry and between Catholic social teachings and the wider community.

This position, which puts McCabe very much out in the field in the parishes of the archdiocese, came about as a result of a strategic planning process that CSS has undergone for over two years, according to Pam Buckmaster, executive director of CSS.

The direction that CSS has taken, as a result of the planning process, emphasizes working in collaboration with parishes and local communities, sending staff out to parishes and missions as needed, bringing "what we do best to the table," Buckmaster said.

Community Connections will "form partnerships and collaborations with parishes and the local community," she said. One example would be McCabe creating a network among a variety of parishes where people are currently working on the same problem or topic so that they can become more effective where they serve and more of a force for change.

"Parishes are key to who we are as an archdiocese," McCabe said in an interview in January. "Being of service to developing social ministry in the parishes is key to us at CSS."

Since his arrival he has visited deaneries of the archdiocese, offered his expertise to help in parishes as needed and "talked to people in the community about the same thing. We've done a lot of listening."

He has inaugurated a bimonthly Connections newsletter, providing a calendar of events that are happening in the area of social ministry and social justice within the geography of the archdiocese. The second issue is currently in the works.

"I am going to be visiting the parishes individually between now and the end of next October," he said, to talk to the pastor and staff to learn what is already in place and how to assist the parish. Several parishes have already asked him to come either to do a presentation on a specific topic, such as nonviolence, or to facilitate a parishwide meeting on ministry.

McCabe is particularly interested in assisting parishes that are at the point of just beginning social ministry and want assistance in identifying needs and opportunities for the particular parish.

In addition to assisting parishes, he would like to contribute to the task of bringing Catholic social teaching to civic and public discussions. "We need to be seen as part of the community of North Georgia. When an issue comes up concerning the poor, the marginated, the outcast, we need to be invited to the table," McCabe said quietly.

He said that he believes serving those in need is as integral to the faith of Catholics as receiving the Eucharist. "Parish social ministry focuses on Jesus' commitment to the people who are hurting, the people who are in need," McCabe said.

"The living of the social Gospel is as important to our faith as going to the Eucharist," he added. "We are not just do-gooders. We are in this because our faith demands that we are."