Msgr. Fitzgerald honored for his contribution to CCS

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, holds the silver bowl he was presented for his support of Catholic Community Services while he addresses the CCS staff during the 65th anniversary celebration on Oct. 8.

In 65 years, Catholic Community Services has grown from an organization that primarily provided adoption services to one that offers a wide range of programs, from help with utility payments to refugee resettlement. Throughout those years, CCS has been guided by a number of different hands, but none has been more involved than Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

Msgr. Fitzgerald began his involvement with CCS in 1969, when he served the first of his two terms as executive director, and has served in some way on the executive committee since.

“He has a personal passion for the agency, I can speak to that right from my heart because I see it every meeting that we have with monsignor,” said Kevin Potts, the board president, on Oct. 8, during a staff ceremony marking the agency’s 65th anniversary.

Because monsignor will be unable to attend the annual CCS dinner, scheduled this year for Nov. 10, he was presented with a bowl at the Oct. 8 ceremony. The bowl reads: “Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, for outstanding leadership to Catholic Community Services 2010, Celebrating 65 years.”

“This is for all of his leadership and support and love that he’s given,” said Joel Marker, a past board president, as he presented the bowl to Msgr. Fitzgerald.

In a later interview, Marker, who served two terms on the board, said monsignor has been CCS’ backbone. “This organization like any non-profit has had its ups and downs, and every time there was a significant challenge, he was always there with his experience and his advice and his contacts in the community to bail the organization out,” Marker said.

In his remarks, Msgr. Fitzgerald said he has known every CCS director since the organization was formed, having met the first one when he was a child because the director was a family friend. “Every person has made a tremendous, significant contribution to the agency, and I have played a very small part in that long history,” he said.

It’s been exciting to see the organization’s growth, he said, adding that the staff deserves recognition more than he does. “You are the ones who make visible the face of Jesus, which is the purpose of our mission,” he said.

CCS was founded to help with complex issues such as adoptions that Catholic parishes couldn’t offer in the course of their traditional charity work, Msgr. Fitzgerald said in a later interview. The organization worked in conjunction with the Benedictine and Holy Cross sisters, who provided medical care to the newborns and their mothers, as well as other vulnerable groups.

Even as the need for adoptions diminished, other needs arose. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops chose Utah as a relocation site for Vietnamese refugees displaced by the war in their country, and CCS helped settle them. Today, that service continues, though the refugees come primarily from the Middle East and Africa.

Over the years, CCS has collaborated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, trying to make a better community and world, Msgr. Fitzgerald said. His favorite memories are of the people, both the staff and the people they served, he added.

“The 65 years is an exciting testimony to what a group of people with a mission, enthusiasm and motivation can accomplish when they roll up their sleeves and join together,” he said.