Catholic Charities celebrates its 25th year
Director discusses success, struggles, future
By Kathleen Ogle
Managing Editor
PERTH AMBOY — Marianne Majewski’s work with Catholic Charities began in 1980 when she was a graduate student interning with the agency while it was still part of the Diocese of Trenton.
In 1982, shortly after the creation of the Diocese of Metuchen by Blessed Pope John Paul II, the newly formed diocese established Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, with 80 employees, three sites and a $1 million dollar budget.
A quarter of a century later, that budget is $50 million, there are almost 700 employees and Majewski is its executive director. Today, the agency comprises six divisions with 30 sites and 120 programs throughout Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties.
Having been with the agency since its beginning, Majewski witnessed firsthand its remarkable growth over the past 25 years. In this interview with The Catholic Spirit, Majewski discusses the agency’s achievements, its struggles and her dreams for the future.
You’ve been with the agency since its beginning. How would you characterize the first 25 years of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen?
When I first started working with Catholic Charities, I worked directly with clients. Professionally, I felt like I was in the right place at the right time; this was an organization that I could grow with.
When the agency first began, it did not have the funds for an infrastructure of any kind. Staff who worked directly with clients also had to learn about administrative functions, personnel issues and how to balance a budget. In the early years, staff, including myself, wore many hats! Through the years, the agency developed programs to meet the needs of the community and eventually grew into the organization it is today.
The past six years that I have been the executive director has been a stabilizing time for the agency. I have spent a lot of time addressing the infrastructure of what is now a huge organization. The agency is in a good place right now. We are moving in the right direction.
What would you consider the agency’s greatest achievement in 25 years?
The agency has a diversity of programming and while that is an achievement, it’s also a double-edged sword because it is a challenge to operationalize so many different social services and be all things to all people.
The number of people that the agency has served over the last 25 years is staggering; it’s millions and millions of people, and to me that’s always going to be our greatest accomplishment. That’s why the agency’s budget grew from $1 million to $50 million in 25 years. There are so many people that need assistance the agency’s budget could probably grow another $50 million.
What do you consider the single biggest challenge facing the agency today?
My biggest concern is our workforce. We are asking people to do very difficult jobs. Our employees are working with seriously mentally ill people that can sometimes be combative because of their illness; they are working with adolescents who challenge the status quo every minute of everyday. Our employees are asked to stretch themselves beyond imagination, and then they are not even paid a livable wage. We are behind other agencies in our ability to offer competitive salaries. As you can imagine, our turnover rate is greater than we would like it to be.
Why are CCDOM employees so underpaid?
Part of the reason is that our funding sources do not provide adequate cost of living increases, which makes it difficult to give our staff adequate cost of living increases.
That’s the most amazing part of all. I think that it’s not a job for many people who work here; it’s a vocation. They are not here for the money. We need a strong workforce so we are constantly looking at retention issues. We want to be the employer of choice. We ask ourselves, what else can we do for our staff so that they will want to continue to work here? It’s a major part of our strategic plan because we need to keep these positions filled. When the positions are open, it puts stress on everyone else in that program because they have to work harder. It’s really important to avoid staff burn out. We want to do everything we can to make sure employee workloads are manageable.
We try to offer flexibility when we can. The agency has good benefits, but we’re also looking at salaries. What I want to do is stay competitive. So we’re always looking at how the other agencies are compensating their employees, and benchmarking ourselves against them. It’s important to keep our workforce strong because that’s the only way we can successfully address the needs of our clients.
When you look at all the needs in our diocese, what do you believe is the greatest or most significant need?
Housing. New Jersey is the fourth least affordable state in the country. For example, in Middlesex County the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,187, and the average annual income needed to afford that apartment is $47,480. At minimum wage, a parent needs to work 148 hours a week to earn that much. An individual in Middlesex County would need to earn $22.83 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Most of our clients are earning minimum wage, which just went up to $7.15.
Here’s another example: For the disabled relying on Social Security benefits, the average monthly payment is $610. The rent for a one-bedroom apartment for a disabled person is 165 percent of their entire monthly income.
Then we have the TANF (temporary assistance for needy families) families who face the impossible task of renting in New Jersey. Housing is typically their number one cost burden. On top of that, there’s child care, utilities, food and gas. How are you going to eat? How are you going to put gas in your car?
The extreme cost of housing in Central Jersey has made the potential risk of homelessness a reality for a growing number of our neighbors. As Catholic Charities, we house the homeless at our shelters but we have difficulty in transitioning them into permanent housing.
What services does CCDOM provide for immigrants?
Our immigration services include helping individuals become citizens, reuniting families and helping individuals become free from abusive living situations. We also assist refugees who are seeking asylum. Immigration services is a very core service of most Catholic Charities’ agencies. I think that we are the most trusted entity in the community serving the immigration population.
Because you are the church?
Probably, but I also think it’s due to our reputation. We’ve been around for so long and word of mouth is ‘That’s a safe place to go. There won’t be any ramifications if you go there and speak to someone.’ There is also the issue of unethical immigration providers that are out to fleece desperate families looking for help.
What are your thoughts about national immigration reform?
There is another point that I have to make: The unspoken truth of the debate is that our nation benefits economically from the undocumented workers, and we turn a blind eye to employers who are exploiting these workers. Undocumented workers are vital to our economy yet they have no legal protection and no opportunities to fully contribute to our country. People need to have a conscience about this.
The dignity of millions of people is at stake, and it really is a moral and ethical issue. As Catholics, I don’t think we can turn our backs on this. The church is compelled to take a stand against harmful legislation and work for positive change. We need legislation that respects our common humanity and reflects the values of fairness and compassion.
Your immigration services are located in Perth Amboy, where there is a large immigrant population. What is Catholic Charities doing for the immigrants in Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties?
There are regulatory compliance issues that require paperwork to be filed in Perth Amboy, but our immigration staff travels to the other counties to work with those immigrants. They do community information sessions in parishes in all counties in our Diocese and they take the paperwork back to Perth Amboy where everything needs to be filed. It is Bishop Bootkoski’s wish that we would expand to the western counties, and we need to secure additional funding to do that.
How would you describe the agency’s experience recruiting families to provide foster care?
We have a critical need for foster families, and we are having a difficult time recruiting them, even for our Boarder Babies, which are the babies that are abandoned at the hospital at birth. They are the easiest children to place with a family, yet we’re having a difficult time recruiting families. At any point in time we have 30 babies in our care. but if we had 20 more homes, we could place 20 more babies. The need is out there.
Some families have concerns because maybe the child was born addicted to drugs or maybe the child has other health issues. The family doesn’t know what that means for the future and how it may impact their existing family. So they take the baby as a foster relationship; then they fall in love with the baby, and then the adoption takes place. We are averaging about 15 adoptions a year. That is a wonderful way to lose a family. The challenge then becomes how to fill those 15 spots with 15 more families for 15 more babies. There is also a huge need for foster families for older children. We need to recruit more families to meet the current demand.
Bishop Bootkoski asked parishes to take a up a new collection this year, the Together in Charity collection. What was this collection for?
That collection is for the Parish Partnership Program, which was developed as a direct result of the pastors’ request for assistance for people in their parishes. We wanted to develop a program that would make it very easy for the parishes to access the services of Catholic Charities. We instituted a cell phone that’s answered 24 hours a day/seven days a week by one person who coordinates the entire program and knows exactly how much money there is.
The program is geared toward emergencies. It’s for the person who presents himself at the rectory at six o’clock on a Friday night; all the agencies are closed and he needs to get through the night or the weekend. It’s meant for one-time assistance, to fill the gap until we can get the person connected to appropriate community services. Now, we’re at the point where it’s so well-utilized that we have to put monthly caps on how many times we can help an individual parish in a month.
The pastors and the parishes are respectful; they know it’s not a bottomless pit and the need is incredible. The budget right now is $125,000 and we’re going to have trouble making it to June 30, which is the end of our fiscal year.
We’re very committed to this program. It’s fostered a wonderful relationship between us and the parishes, and it’s also built relationships with local food pantries and St. Vincent de Paul Societies. It has helped us to leverage our money with other local organizations.
Why should parishioners contribute to this collection?
As the parishioners are in the pew wondering whether or not to donate to Catholic Charities, they need to know that this program isn’t serving a stranger. It’s serving people that share similar values and concerns; it may be someone sitting next to them in the pew. It’s directly related to what’s happening in your church in your neighborhood.
It could be anyone of us who suddenly finds himself or herself in need. It really is ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ Our lives can change very quickly and many may not have a safety net to fall back on. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck.
How would you like to see Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, grow as the agency moves into the future?
There’s a very exciting project called the Neighborhood Revitalization Project that is underway in the neighborhood surrounding the Sacred Heart Parish in New Brunswick.
Many, many people have participated in this project and most exciting to me is that this is a grassroots initiative; it’s the people who live there who have a voice in the revitalization process. This project will have a huge impact on poverty in this community. Housing and businesses in the community will be rehabilitated. A community center will provide housing, health and employment information and referral for individuals and families. Graduate students from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University developed the plan and we’ve got Catholic Charities and the Sacred Heart Parish and New Labor vitally involved.
My vision for the future is to continue to develop partnerships with likeminded organizations to address social problems in our communities.
Are there any other specific issues you would you like to see Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, address in the future?
I would also like to develop senior housing for low and moderate seniors unable to remain in the own homes.
I would like to see Catholic Charities continue to be an advocate of policy change in the state. If you don’t solve the root of the problem we’re only going to throw money at it; with no lasting impact. Everybody’s got to get involved. Catholic Charities advocates at the state level and are part of an anti-poverty network. We’re part of a much bigger vision for what has to happen to improve life for the poor in New Jersey. To continue to just put Band-Aids on this is not the solution.
Let’s talk about Catholic Charities USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America.
I love this initiative, and I hope that this increases awareness and advocacy. I’m very excited about this.
Does cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years seem overly ambitious to you?
What excites me abut this initiative are the specific policy proposals that are being supported, specifically to create a livable wage. Some of the other policy proposals are: Strengthen our nation’s nutrition safety net; improve TANF (temporary assistance to needy families); universal health insurance; safe and stable child care; improve access to education; address the growing wealth disparity. These things are huge, but if I had to pick one thing it would be to create a living wage that would adequately support people’s basic needs.
Do you mean $22 an hour?
It could be $22 for two people, so it could $11 an hour. I don’t think we’re going to go from $7 to $22, but if two people could earn a reasonable wage and we wouldn’t have six families living together in an apartment in Perth Amboy — so there’s 17 people living in a two-bedroom apartment, which is what happens every day here. I would also like to increase people’s awareness to see what the poverty truly is in the United States.
I think it’s very easy for the average person to avoid seeing poverty.
The opening sentence in the Catholic Charities USA Paper of Poverty states, “Poverty in the United States is a moral and social wound in the soul of our country.” I don’t know how you could be a Catholic and not be committed to alleviating poverty. I believe this campaign is going to increase awareness. I endorse it 150 percent.
How are parishioners engaged in the mission of Catholic Charities?
Some parishes are very generous. For example St. Thomas the Apostle in Old Bridge donated a piece of church property and we built Community House on it. Community House is a residential program; it is the only one like it in the state of New Jersey. Six disabled adults live together in Community House. These are people who became disabled not from birth but from a tragic accident. If not for community house these individuals would likely be living in a nursing home.
The whole house is designed for the disabled person. They pay rent to live there. They have personal aides provided through their insurance companies. We maintain the house and the grounds. St. Thomas continues to support the program and its residence.
Another example is New Moms, New Expectations, which provides child care for single mothers who are continuing their education. New Moms, New Expections is on the property of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Bridgewater.
As we already discussed, there’s a new collection, Together in Charity, which is for the Parish Partnership Program, which goes directly back into the parishes. Parishioners also give to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal and we receive part of that.
How can parishes become engaged in the mission?
Parishes and schools should think of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, when they engage in projects related to homelessness, poverty and hunger. We received assistance during Christmas for many of our families. The agency distributed food to hundreds of families on Thanksgiving as well. People love to give during the holidays; however, the less fortunate need help 365 days a year; not just during the holiday season. A parish or school could adopt a program. They could have a direct relationship with programs that serve the homeless or youth programs that serve children who have been removed from their homes due to neglect or abuse.
So if I’m in the parish and I want to adopt a program, who do I call?
You call Maria Hemerick at (732) 257-6100 and she will assist you.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law