Annual Appeal Funds CSS Parish And Community Ministry Program

Published: November 20, 2003

ATLANTA—The following story, written for the 50th anniversary of Catholic Social Services in 2003, is also an example of how one of the programs funded by the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal ministers and gives new hope to persons in need.

Silvia Gonzalez came to the United States from Honduras with her daughter in June 2002 to reunite with her husband and mother-in-law. The family lives in a south Atlanta neighborhood that has been battling crime and poor housing conditions for the past five years.

Catholic Social Services’ Parish and Community Ministry Program, together with public and private agencies and residents, organized a Latino Safety Collaborative in this south Fulton neighborhood. Plagued with robberies, drugs, prostitution and shootings, this community has not had much peace or security in recent years.

Gonzalez plays a crucial part in reducing crime in her neighborhood. She ignites and inspires in her neighbors the will to act in collaboration toward the common goal of improving their quality of life.

As a resident leader Gonzalez leads community safety meetings with her husband Rigoberto, gives information in Spanish to her neighbors about how to report crime and form a neighborhood watch, and helps connect people to other civic resources in the community.

She is a model of self-determination; she started her own small hair salon and is working on getting her license to open a shop. Back in Honduras Gonzalez was a high school civics teacher. Here in Atlanta she is working hard to learn English and is teaching her daughter to do well in school.

Silvia Gonzalez has the giving heart of a steadfast and practical activist. She opens her home and her heart to everyone she meets in an effort to make her neighborhood a safer place.

CSS’s Parish and Community Ministry Program is one of the many programs supported by the funds from the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal now in process.

Through this ministry, many such grass-roots efforts are fostered and initiated, bringing communities together and making their lives better. In addition, the program provides services to all areas of the archdiocese and local communities through a variety of projects, including the One Church One Inmate program.