By Michael D. Wamble
STAFF WRITER

Something new, something old, yet something very much welcomed.

That was the collective response from local Catholic leaders following President Bush’s Jan. 29 proposal to promote “faith-based” groups through the creation of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives.

“Catholic Charities has a long history of working with various levels of the government: city, county, state and federal. So it’s not new for us,” said Father Michael Boland, administrator of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Boland, who was scheduled to join 30 Catholic leaders at the White House Jan. 31, was to serve as the sole representative of Catholic Charities USA and the Chicago Archdiocese.

Others leaders invited included: Cardinal-designate Edward Egan, archbishop of New York, and Kenneth Hackett, executive director of Catholic Relief Services.

Cardinal George, who was invited to the meeting, was unable to attend.

Boland, also director of human services for the archdiocese, is no stranger to the capital.

Last May, he met with officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington to suggest ways to create affordable forms of housing for low-income families.

The opportunity to discuss the president’s plan in its “formative stage” was warmly received by Boland, who heads one of the largest charitable organizations in the country.

“I think it’s great President Bush has chosen to talk to Catholic Charities to benefit from our wisdom in maintaining our religious identity while providing services to meet the needs of the poor,” said Boland.

Doug Delaney, executive director of Catholic Conference of Illinois, the statewide public policy arm of the Catholic Church, said he is “guardedly optimistic” about the plan.

“At times it can be difficult to deal with government bureaucracies. If we can talk to people within the administration to cut through red-tape, that would be a plus for us,” said Delaney, who will ultimately translate what develops from theory to practice.

Delaney’s “concern” toward the plan centers on securing written assurance from the Bush Administration that agencies will be given appropriate resources.

“We must be careful not to be handed a mandate and told to find our own funding for it. My sense is President Bush is trying to eliminate the tape,” Delaney said.

While the president’s plan has been praised by groups including the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, noting that it is “the spiritual dimension of these programs that accounts for their success,” the plan has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU decried the initiative as a further blurring of the separation between church and state.

Boland believes those critical voices have a misunderstanding of the plan.

“The ACLU and others are missing the point. We are not trying to convert people. What we want to do is to live out the Gospel by caring for ‘the poorest of the poor,’” said Boland.

Said Delaney, “It’s not like we hand people a sandwich and a rosary and make them thank God for their food. It’s unfortunate some people have such a mistrust in humankind.”

In many ways, the new initiative borrows from older models borne out of Catholic social teaching.

“I get nuts when people talk about this being a new thing. It is about time the government has caught-up with us,” said William Purcell, director of the archdiocesan Office for Peace and Justice. “The church has always practiced subsidiarity so that problems can be addressed at the local level.”

An example of the church’s role in strengthening small, faith-based groups has been the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

“Catholic parishioners are already living this [concept] out by supporting 21 groups and helping numerous others since 1970,” said Purcell.

Still some within the church worry that receiving more money from the government will invite more federal regulations.

When asked about the possibility of meeting numbers to ensure federal funding, the Catholic Charities’ head stated he hoped the meeting would bring about “more clarity” in answering that question.

Said Boland, “This work may be more costly on the front-end but in the long run, our goal is to help people become self-sufficient. We must be outcome-based.

“Our mission is to walk with people, to journey with them.”