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Why Catholic volunteer programs are losing applicants — and what living conditions have to do with it
Aging communities and inadequate housing drive volunteers away from faith driven service
By Julie A. Ferraro | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
Since 2012, I have served as a volunteer for a number of different Catholic religious communities. I got a “late start” in donating my time and talents — when raising four sons, there isn’t much opportunity for anything else but keeping them well fed and well behaved.
Once the need to work in an office 40 hours a week ended, I decided to “give back” for the many blessings I’d received. I applied for a full-time volunteer program in California, and spent a year living and working with Franciscans.
Among the adventures of this first in a series of experiences: the living conditions. The volunteers, from all around the country, lived in rooms in the converted novitiate wing, meaning where the young aspirants to religious life used to occupy “cells” — very basic rooms, with toilet facilities down the hall.
At least, the wing had been renovated, with two of these tiny rooms combined to be “en suite.” If someone flushed their toilet while you were in the shower, though, watch out!
Scalding water is no fun at 6 a.m. (or any hour of the day).
Other volunteer sites were more amenable, with accommodations more like small apartments, some even with a kitchenette. Being part of a community, however, we were encouraged to eat with the others, at least for dinner, depending on the schedule of our duties.
On these travels around the country, I wrote about the ministries for various publications. I interviewed others who coordinated volunteer programs, and those who participated, giving a year or more of their life to a cause dear to their hearts.
A quiet crisis in Catholic volunteering
Within the past few years, sadly, quite a few of these programs have ended, primarily because the number of applicants for available volunteer postings has declined.
Also, since many of these volunteer programs are run by Catholic religious communities, the aging of those members means fewer men and women able to coordinate the many details that go into arranging for volunteer sites or supervising those who come to serve.
Another aspect of this decline, though, involves the accommodations. A Franciscan friar, interviewing me for a volunteer program, asked me, “What do you need to survive?”
I responded, “A bed and a bathroom.”
He laughed, but I was serious. When someone is willing to set aside their day-to-day life and devote their energies to serving those on the margins, in the spirit of a specific charism — Franciscan, Dominican, Benedictine, Jesuit, etc. — is it too much to ask that a moderate level of comfort be provided?
On a discernment visit, prospective volunteers seeing shabby housing conditions, with shared bathrooms that might’ve been built in the 1920s, makes it almost impossible to decide to spend months in such a program, regardless of how worthy the ministry.
It must be remembered that these volunteers — especially those taking a year away from college studies or recent graduates — aren’t vowed to poverty like their religious hosts.
The lack of a comfortable chair to sit on after a long day feeding the poor or advocating for immigrants is the antithesis of hospitality. A sturdy desk and chair are always welcome, with a television in the common space where volunteers can gather to enjoy social time in the evening is simply common courtesy.
To be honest, these aren’t the only reasons volunteering has declined, but, from personal experience, I can see where it would be a key factor. No one donating their time is asking for five-star luxury, but well-maintained housing is essential to both the physical, mental and spiritual health of those who have selflessly offered themselves to serve.
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