New Head of Catholic Charities Seeks to Be ‘Voice of the Poor’

When the Rev. Larry Snyder was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1988, he fully expected to spend the rest of his career working at parishes in and around Minnesota’s Twin Cities. But after three years of serving as an associate pastor at two Minnesota churches, Father Snyder received a new calling.

It’s a calling those who know him say he was born to follow.

In 1991, Father Snyder was approached by the director of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and asked to become his assistant. The work proved to be both demanding and rewarding — and it offered Father Snyder the opportunity to help change the lives of others in profound ways.

“People say it must be depressing work because there’s so much suffering and human need. But it’s actually the opposite. What you see are people who are able to change their lives because of what the agency is doing,” Father Snyder says. “Every morning, I enjoyed going to work. I knew I was going to see faces of people whose lives were going to be changed forever because of what we were doing.”

That passion for Catholic Charities’ mission helped Father Snyder move quickly through the organization’s hierarchy. By 1999, he was chief executive officer of the Twin Cities’ Catholic Charities organization, where he managed a $39-million budget and nearly 500 people.

Now the 54-year-old native of Lincoln, Ill., has taken an even bigger step by assuming the role of president of Catholic Charities USA, the national membership organization that oversees more than 1,400 local social-service organizations from its office in Alexandria, Va. Those 1,400 groups serve more than 6.5 million people annually, collect a total of about $3-billion from congregations, private donors, and government agencies, and employ 50,000 people. Father Snyder earns a salary of $180,000 in his new role.

Father Snyder is charged with managing a national organization that provides financial support, training, and guidance to the 1,400 affiliates. He also serves as the group’s national face — lobbying for support for Catholic Charities’ affiliates both in Washington and from business leaders.

Anna M. Babin, president of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston and Houston and the chairwoman of the search committee that hired Father Snyder, says his background should make it easier for him to achieve those goals. She says Father Snyder’s experience running a Catholic Charities affiliate and as a priest gives him credibility as he navigates the far-flung organization. “They know he is someone who sympathizes with the miles we walk,” Ms. Babin says.

For Catholic Charities’ affiliates, that sometimes rocky journey has been complicated by a period of intense change. Father Snyder’s first months on the job have already seen the installation of a new pope to lead the Catholic Church — and a spate of changes in the American political landscape that he says are making it more difficult for those who help the poor and needy.

In an interview, Father Snyder talked about his role:

How much will the new pope impact your organization?

Rome has a great impact on our principles. All of the popes since Leo XIII back in the 1800s have had a strong emphasis on social justice. It’s from those teachings that we get that mission, and that teaching is right from the Gospel.

Several weeks ago I was fortunate enough to go to Rome and meet the Vatican officials that we interface with. The meetings were very good and my sense is that Pope Benedict will continue on in the social-justice tradition of John Paul II.

Have the recent challenges facing the U.S. Catholic Church touched Catholic Charities?

Catholics in the United States have always been very committed to practicing their religion and in that sense we’re very fortunate. But we have some challenges right now. The church’s message of social justice is somewhat countercultural. You don’t hear a lot of people advocating for things we’re advocating for. Who is the voice of the poor? That’s what we’re called to be.

Does the current political climate help or hurt that cause?

If you view it as a pendulum, [the political agenda] is away from us right now. When people think about the poor right now, they think about them in punitive terms.

Catholic teaching is rooted in that we are first and foremost part of a community. But right now, it’s all focused on how individual rights take precedence. It goes against our individual principles. We have to keep reminding people that we have these principles.

What are the biggest challenges facing your affiliates?

The challenges our members are facing are the challenges that nonprofits across the country face day in and day out and year in and year out — and that’s basically trying to get the resources they need to provide their services. We have seen government back away from giving support, especially to human services. Human services are being very creative to get the resources they need.

How are you meeting those challenges?

We’ve been putting more of an emphasis on volunteering than previously. A lot of that comes with our partnerships with other groups. That’s something we’re doing better today — reaching out to churches, and not just Catholic churches, but Protestant and Jewish congregations.

Another area of volunteering that is on the rise is corporate volunteering. The great thing about that is the people we serve are no longer an abstraction. It’s much more difficult to say, “I’m not connected to that, I don’t have a responsibility here.”

The other nice side effect of it is people tend to become financial donors as well.

ABOUT THE REV. LARRY SNYDER, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA

Education: Earned a bachelor’s degree from Illinois Benedictine College; a master’s degree in divinity from St. Paul’s Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.; and a master’s in public administration from Hamline University in St. Paul.

Previous employment: Before entering the priesthood, Father Snyder worked as a teacher for eight years, teaching music and German at two high schools in Illinois. He was ordained a priest in 1988 and worked as associate pastor at a pair of Minnesota churches from 1988 to 1991. Father Snyder began working for Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1991, spending the past five years as its executive director.

What he’s been reading: Father Snyder enjoys novels and political nonfiction. His recent favorite is Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Sen. Barack Obama.