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| Dr. Carolyn Woo, CEO and president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), speaks at the latest St. Thérèse Lecture on Friday, April 11, at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
MADISON — “This is your work. We do this work in your name.”
Dr. Carolyn Woo, CEO and president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), emphasized those words as she began her talk on Friday, April 11, at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison.
Her presentation was the first of 2014’s two lectures in the St. Thérèse series in the Diocese of Madison.
Dr. Woo has been in her current position with CRS since January of 2012. Last year, she was featured in Foreign Policy as one of those 500 “most powerful people on the planet” and one of only 33 in the category of “a force for good.”
She addressed this during her talk, saying the “ranking” was not for her, since she was with CRS a short time at that point. She said it is more an honor “for 70 years of work by Catholic Relief Services in the world . . . the work of relief and the U.S. Catholic Church. All the work that we do in the world represents you. In many places, they don’t know how to pronounce our names, but they say ‘those are the U.S. Catholics.’”
The mission of CRS is to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas, working in the spirit of Catholic social teaching to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person.
CRS work around the world
Dr. Woo talked about the work CRS does in about 100 countries around the world.
“We go wherever there is a need,” Dr. Woo said. “We don’t serve because they are Catholic, we serve because we are Catholic.”
“We go wherever there is human suffering,” such as natural disasters, poverty, oppression, and violence.
She talked about the work in volatile areas such as South Sudan, where a grenade was thrown into the car of some non-profit partners so it could be carjacked. She also talked about the unsafe roads with numerous checkpoints manned by rebels and teens. There are also curfews because of violence, so some workers sleep in their offices to avoid going on the streets at night.
While some will ask them, “Why are you there?” a bishop in Sudan sums up CRS’s importance by telling the workers, “Don’t abandon us.”
CRS also does work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and they are about to open an office in Somalia — with the country now getting stabilized and rebuilding.
The organization takes in between $700 million and $900 million every year. Eighty-five percent of that money comes from grants so, as Dr. Woo put it, “Excellence is very important to us, innovation is very important to us,” so CRS can keep receiving the grants.
“We bring the friendship of the American Catholics,” she added. “It is a witness of the American Catholics when we’re out there in the world doing His work.”
To illustrate the work of CRS, Dr. Woo showed a video called “The Higher Gifts” (can be seen at multimedia.crs.org/2012/the-higher-gifts/).
She said, “This is the work on your behalf,” showing the U.S. Catholics presence in the world in Haiti, Burkina Faso, and Madagascar.
Dr. Woo said the video gives her joy. “Remember the happy faces,” she said. “We’re working for poverty, not for people.”
God, neighbor, and self
The second part of Dr. Woo’s talk focused on “God, neighbor, and self,” which she called the “three biggest mysteries in our lives.”
She said through the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the greatest commandments (love God and love your neighbor) we unlock the mysteries of God, neighbor, and self.
Dr. Woo outlined 10 lessons to illustrate how to live for God, neighbor, and self.
1. Every encounter we have with each other is a holy encounter.
2. Every encounter is an invitation from God.
3. Faith does require an action.
4. When we do take action, we are participating in God’s miracles.
5. The work that we do depends on God, not just on us.
6. Remember the concept of abundance — everything comes from God.
7. The call of God is for everyone.
8. Preparing for the last judgment: the difference between the wise and the foolish.
9. In every act of giving is the act of thanksgiving.
10. There’s only one mystery: God, neighbor, and self.
Dr. Woo said these three together make up the one mystery — to give ourselves to serve God and neighbor.
To illustrate this lesson, and close her talk for the evening, she showed another video called “Lead, Kindly Light” (can be seen at crs.org/70th/event.cfm). It was the video produced for CRS’s 70th anniversary last year.
Next lecture
The next St. Thérèse Lecture will be held on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. It will feature Alejandro Bermúdez. Bermúdez is the director of the largest Catholic news agency in Spanish as well as the executive director of Catholic News Agency.
For more information, visit madisondiocese.org/stls