Mission of the Ladies of Charity Continues Amid COVID-19

During COVID-19, the Ladies of Charity of the Diocese of Pittsburgh have continued to do what they always do: looking after the elderly and ill, feeding the hungry, providing older people with emergency funds, clothing children and more.

“It’s for anyone that needs help or home care or emergency funds. We’re not just there for Catholics. We help anybody in any community,” said Peggy Keene, a member of Word of God Parish in Swissvale and president-elect of the national board of Ladies of Charity USA. She is also coordinator of the national Ladies of Charity Caregiving office.

The Pittsburgh chapter is the largest in the United States, with about 1,400 members. A half dozen parishes also have strong chapters of the Junior Ladies of Charity, for girls aged 13 and up.

The international organization is more than 400 years old, founded in 1617 by St. Vincent de Paul who called organized a group of French women to care for the poor under the direction of St. Louise de Marillac.

A young Irish immigrant brought the Ladies of Charity to the United States in 1857. The Pittsburgh chapter began about 100 years later, with some women who began to pray for the unclaimed dead after one of them witnessed a funeral with no mourners. That ministry continues with an annual prayer service in Calvary Cemetery, Hazelwood, where many unclaimed bodies are buried.

“Women come from all over the place for that 20-minute prayer service,” Keene said.

After Bishop John Wright was appointed to Pittsburgh in 1959, he told them they were already acting like Ladies of Charity and urged them to form a chapter.

Keene has a parallel story about joining the organization 25 years ago. She had never heard of the Ladies of Charity but was looking after three elderly relatives.  A religious sister told her, “You may as well join the Ladies of Charity, because you’re already doing the work,” Keene recalled.

“It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Each parish chapter chooses how to minister, based on local needs. At Keene’s parish, the Ladies of Charity supply clothing for infants and young children. Two parishes – St. Mary of the Mount on Mount Washington and St. John Capistran in Upper St. Clair – collaborate to make sandwiches that Operation Safety Net gives to the homeless. Many chapters usually send women to visit nursing homes but COVID-19 has put a temporary halt to the visits.

“They still make phone calls and send greeting cards,” Keene said.

On a regional level, the diocesan chapter has an Emergency Trust Fund that provides people 55 and older with one-time assistance for a critical need such as a utility bill. Catholic Charities identifies recipients and the payment goes directly to the utility company, pharmacy or other creditor.

For that—and the totality of their work—Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh has just honored the diocesan Ladies of Charity with its “Living the Spirit Award.” The award was announced during Catholic Charities two-week virtual fundraiser: https://bit.ly/CathCharHope.
 
Ladies of Charity USA also founded a non-profit home care service, with low, sliding scale fees. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Ladies of Charity Caregiving, Inc.,  provides low cost assistance with cooking, dressing, cleaning and other non-medical needs, including companionship. The service has continued throughout COVID-19.

Keene describes the Ladies of Charity as “the most uncliquiest organization I’ve ever been with. You can go to anybody’s group and feel welcome. We all feel that we’re related, almost like family.”

That attitude has helped parish chapters work through the challenges of merger.

In 2018 the diocese had 76 parish chapters. She expects to have about 35 once all mergers are complete.

In Keene’s grouping, four chapters are merging and will have about 150 members. While that’s large for meetings, the chapters are working to continue the prayerful, family ambience, she said.

“Our groups have been meeting together, with no one resenting anyone else. They’ve been very cooperative. The Spirit really works through this group,” she said.

Photo: Ladies of Charity members, in a photo taken before the COVID-19 pandemic.