Field director visits with goal to build up network

The alliance promotes dignity, justice and the common good.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Eric McFadden, field and legislative director of the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, made contact with Catholic clergy, religious and lay people during a two-day visit to the Youngstown area in an attempt to begin a chapter here.
"This a grass-roots effort in fieldwork. I was here to plant the seed and local people will take it from here," said McFadden, who is based in Columbus.
McFadden said the goal is to start a network of chapters as he makes contacts across Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He said it's hoped the local chapters eventually will expand to a state organization that will work with the newly formed national nonprofit organization. He is based in Columbus.
Organized alliance
The Catholic Alliance is just a year old, McFadden said. It was organized last January by Alexia Kelley, who is its executive director, and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Kelley has served in various capacities in nonprofit organizations committed to the environment, social justice and reducing poverty. She served as director for religious outreach for the Democratic National Committee, worked in the media relations office for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., and was director of program development at the Environmental Resources Trust Inc.
She launched the development program at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and was a founding board member of Language, Education and Technology Center. Kelley and Kathleen Maas Weigertis co-authored "Living the Catholic Social Tradition."
The organization's mission statement is: "The Catholic Alliance support a culture and public discourse that calls our nations to the values that lie at the heart of Catholic social teaching: the dignity of the human person, justice and the common good. The alliance aims to serve all those dedicated to these values by providing the coordination, organizing support and media relations that can help forge a new, faithful American public voice."
"The local chapters will act as conduits for messages on issues of poverty, the war, jobs, health care, the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia," McFadden said.
Interested in area
"We want to hear what's happening in Youngstown. Lay people will be the backbone of this," he said, as they convey how people in their part of the country feel about these issues in respect to Catholic social teaching.
McFadden said one issue to be addressed will be why funding of social programs "to benefit the least among us" are often cut while tax breaks go those who need it the least. "That's not what Jesus called us to do," he said. "Service to the least among us ... living the faith is," he said.
McFadden said the diverse voices from local groups who will get input from progressive, moderate and conservative Catholics will be welcomed by the alliance. "We are respectful of people's thoughts and about what is important in individual communities," he said.
The Catholic perspective, he said, may have been overshadowed by more vocal religious factions. This is an organized effort to channel opinions of local Catholics to their congressmen and others, he said.
"Catholics can come together and speak out on issues. The message will filter up to the national organization," he said.
He said the alliance also hopes to be a clearinghouse where models of successful local social programs can be shared. For example, McFadden said he met with representatives of a program for the homeless and a health clinic, both of which are changing lives in a positive fashion.
The alliance also hopes to develop a group of speakers and media training for local chapters.
The alliance's Web site, still under construction, is www.thecatholicalliance.org, and McFadden may be contacted via e-mail at emcfadden@thecatholicalliance.org