Speakers offer encouragement to Catholic social ministry workers

Published: 2008-02-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic social ministry is often frustrating, but a handful of speakers made a point of acknowledging the value of the work and thanking participants in an annual gathering of church workers in Washington. "The church owes you a debt of gratitude," said Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., at a Feb. 27 Mass closing the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. "You make the church look good." The annual conference combines several days' worth of issue briefings and strategy sessions with targeted lobbying on Capitol Hill. This year's gathering drew more than 650 people from dioceses, parishes and various Catholic groups across the country. It was co-sponsored by more than a dozen national Catholic organizations and five different departments of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Wenski, chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, quoted several popes, writer G.K. Chesterton and others to emphasize the importance of the church's work in tending to the needs of all people.

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