I worked for Catholic Charities—which needs our support now more than ever.

“Hold up, I need a breather,” I gasped, hands on my knees, sweat dripping down my face.

“Check,” my opponent said, bouncing the basketball back to me. No mercy. 

I wasn’t in the NBA. I wasn’t playing in Europe. But here I was, getting paid to play on a worn-down court in northern Ohio. My job? Mentoring teens through Catholic Charities of Cleveland. Their favorite activity?  Basketball. This meant that I played almost every single day.

Catholic Charities is often misunderstood. It isn’t a single national organization, but a network of 168 independently operated agencies across the U.S., all sharing a mission rooted in Catholic social teaching.

The first Catholic Charities agency was founded in 1910 in the nation’s capital to serve the urban poor in Catholic neighborhoods. Today, that mission continues in countless ways, such as feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing mental health services, assisting refugees, and mentoring at-risk teens.

I was blessed to work for the Diocese of Cleveland agency in their prevention services department. Their motto was simple but encompassed their goal: “Providing help, creating hope, serving all.” 

However, recent headlines reveal criticism of Catholic Charities’ role in immigration, debates over its public funding, and the related political tension. Even Vice President JD Vance, my former senator, weighed in on the controversy. But most people don’t see what I saw every day. Teens struggling to grow up without a strong family structure. Single mothers battling addiction. Foster and adopted kids trying to fit into their new surroundings. 

It’s true that Catholic Charities plays a major role in immigration services, especially in the Southern United States. That work is complex, but to define the entire organization by one aspect of their work is like judging a basketball team by their score in the first quarter. You’re missing the full game. 

One of the biggest frustrations I faced in my work was the limitations placed on our outreach. Catholic Charities is funded primarily by state and federal grants, which means it is often restricted by regulations that govern how services are provided. These regulations stipulate that Catholic Charities can’t preach the Gospel while providing services, which presents a dilemma. They excel at feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, and visiting the imprisoned, but they often are not allowed to tell them why. 

This was my one critique from my time on the ground: The love of Christ should be more than the silent engine behind the work. It should be the headline. We should engage not just in social service but in evangelization.

I voiced my concerns with fellow Catholic Charities coworkers. I found that some agreed with me, while others offered a different perspective. I voiced my concerns with fellow Catholic Charities coworkers. Some agreed with me that evangelization efforts often lack spiritual depth. Others, however, felt that programs like Catholic Youth Organization already embody evangelization by including prayer before games and encouraging good sportsmanship. While I see the value in that, I believe these gestures are only a starting point. What’s needed is a more intentional and ongoing evangelization that moves beyond more brief moments of prayer to truly form disciples.

Still, I wondered if the seeds of deeper faith were being planted in ways I couldn’t yet see. This became evident to me at work one day when I stepped away from basketball to use the restroom, leaving two of my mentees in the gym. When I came back, they were gone. I panicked for a moment because sometimes they liked to hide as a way of testing boundaries. After a brief search, I found them in the chapel, kneeling before a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, hands folded in prayer. In that quiet moment, I was reminded that even when words are limited, the Gospel finds a way.

That said, Catholic Charities’ simple gestures of giving a hot meal, a scarf, or gloves, or providing transportation to a job interview, might be all a soul needs to experience God’s love in a world so broken. Because the hope Catholic Charities gives is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus.

Catholic Charities shows up in the midst of broken systems, including poverty, incarceration, and fatherlessness. But if we’re going to transform lives, we can’t stop at service. We must also boldly proclaim the One who transforms hearts.

This means praying with someone, not just for someone. It means donating and volunteering to nonprofits that serve the poor. After all, love without truth isn’t charity. It’s comfort! The human race is starving for more than that. It’s starving for Christ.

Recently, the government cut funding to Catholic Charities, leaving its programs stretched thin. But maybe this is the wake-up call the Church needs. Maybe it’s time for the Church, not the government, to fully fund Catholic Charities. I’m not just talking about the hierarchy, but the laity as well. 

If our mission of service is truly rooted in the Gospel, it should ultimately be fueled by the body of Christ. At the end of the day, the Church should never have to outsource her works of mercy.

Joseph Peach is a Catholic author, freelance writer, and speaker. He serves as the youth minister at St. Hilary Catholic Church in Fairlawn, Ohio, and has published seven books.

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