By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Serving “the least of God’s children” is the mission of the new Del Rio regional office of Catholic Charities, which opened its doors Friday.
Archbishop of San Antonio Gustavo García-Siller and J. Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO for Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of San Antonio, welcomed more than 100 community members, including elected officials and business leaders, the media and the faithful, to a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of the new office at 106 Miers St., on the city’s north side.
Ana Markowski Smith, who is the director of Catholic Charities Del Rio program, opened the ceremony by recognizing many of the attending dignitaries and introducing Father Matthew De Leon of Sabinal, who offered a prayer.
Smith then introduced García-Siller and Fernandez, thanking them “for their vision and expertise.”
“Five years ago, we had a dream of coming to Del Rio. We have a wonderful entity in San Antonio where we help thousands and thousands of people, and we had a small office here, but we really thought we could do a lot more for the people of the community of Del Rio and Val Verde County,” Fernandez said.
“Today, we’re making that dream come true, and now the real work starts,” he added.
Fernandez said the staff of the new Del Rio office “will try our best to help every single person who walks through the door.”
García-Siller blessed the group and told those present that God had sent his Son into the world out of love and gentle kindness to help “those who are sick, weak and unfortunate.”
“In His great love for all of us, Christ said that whatever we do for the least among us, we do for Him,” García-Siller said.
The archbishop then invited a member of the Catholic Charities staff to read a portion of the Gospel of Matthew in which Christ exhorts his disciples to care for the hungry, the thirsty, for strangers, for the sick and for the incarcerated.
“‘For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me; ill and you cared for me; in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer Him and say, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison? And the King will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did for me,’” she read.
García-Siller resumed speaking, saying he was speaking to Del Rioans in the context of the ongoing pandemic, of social unrest, of the war in Ukraine, of the process of mid-term elections in the U.S.
“And more closely, the killing of 19 children and two teachers . . . We want to be one voice for you and with you for the sake of those who are impoverished in any way,” he said.
He said the goal of Catholic Charities was to work with other organizations “for the common good of everyone.”
“Please, let us look at this initiative without the eyes of politics. Please, please let’s look at it as a service to the least of God’s children,” García-Siller said.
After speaking to the crowd, García-Siller and Fernandez led the Catholic Charities staff, elected leaders and local queens in cutting the ribbon marking the opening of the facility.
Afterward, the group unveiled a banner that read, “We Stand With Uvalde.”
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