Faiths come together to support those in greatest need

Shortly after Donald Trump took office and launched a series of measures targeting immigrants, Barry Shrage dialed his old friend at Boston’s Archdiocese, the Rev. Bryan Hehir. The two had long collaborated on civic initiatives, Shrage as head of Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the much-loved leader of Boston’s Jewish community, Father Hehir as the Archdiocese’s secretary of health and social services.

“He called me up,” Hehir recalls, “and said, ‘You know, this theme of people cut adrift, with no one to let them in, this strikes my community hard.’”

Shrage told Hehir that he wanted to help Catholic Charities, the Catholic community’s venerated charitable organization, help Boston’s most vulnerable immigrants and refugees, under siege in the Trump era rolling in and desperately in need of legal assistance.

“Barry said, ‘We don’t have the structure,’” Father Hehir remembers. “‘The Archdiocese and Catholic Charities do. What we can do is help raise the money to help you do the job you do more expansively.’ ”

Shrage swiftly set up the CJP’s Legal Aid Fund for Immigrants so that Catholic Charities could hire immigration lawyers to advise Boston-area immigrants in dire need. Those lawyers are now helping highly vulnerable families and individuals, including children, who are facing an array of circumstances ranging from frightening to dreadful, from deportation to domestic violence to human trafficking. Over $600,000 has already been raised to support Catholic Charities’ efforts.

“Knowing that supporting and welcoming the ‘stranger’ was so integral to both of our faith traditions,” says Debbie Rambo, President of Catholic Charities. “Barry and I were determined to find a way together to make a difference.” The partnership between CJP and Catholic Charities was, says Rambo, “a first of its kind fundraising effort,” though the two faith communities have long been allies on a variety of social justice projects.

Catholic Charities is honoring Shrage, who is leaving his position as head of CJP after three decades at its helm, at its annual dinner this May. The hope is to raise additional funds for Catholic Charities to expand not only the legal services it provides to at-risk immigrants, but the multitude of social services that it provides to the needy.

The partnership between the two organizations, says Father Hehir, is “a perfect example of Catholic-Jewish relations for the good of society.” It is also a bit of inspiration in a period when inspiration can seem in short supply.

‘Barry and I were determined to find a way together to make a difference.’ — DEBBIE RAMBO president of Catholic Charities