Murphy to leave Catholic Charities
Adamant that God’s work for justice
is never finished, the longtime social ministry director will not retire,
but simply wait to see what God has in store for her next.
For what she calls a “self-imposed sabbatical,” Anne Murphy
will be leaving her job as program director of parish social ministry
for the diocesan Catholic Charities office at the end of this month.
Since 1999, Murphy, a longtime parishioner of Blessed Sacrament Parish
in Alexandria, has dedicated her time to fulfilling the Gospel call to
work for justice through her professional role.
Now she’s looking forward to applying this time in a more introspective
way — to study, to explore, to reflect, to “grapple with God,” she
said. And she already has plans to visit friends and family.
“I’ve been praying about this,” Murphy said, sitting in the
Catholic Charities offices last week. “I think when it’s time to
move on, somehow you know.”
Growing up, Murphy was very influenced by the document “Justice in the
World” from the synod of bishops in 1971, and has worked for justice her
whole life. Before joining Catholic Charities, Murphy worked as ministries coordinator
at Blessed Sacrament and as community outreach coordinator at Carpenter’s
Shelter, also in Alexandria.
“I think we are all called by our baptism to proclaim the Gospel,” she
said. “It’s really about being a living witness, and I think the
Gospel calls us to a life working for justice.”
Murphy has lived this call not only in her job, but through volunteer work with
the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, the Ignatian Volunteers Corps,
Habitat for Humanity, Fairfax County Faith Communities in Action and more.
For the last several years, Murphy has coordinated the diocesan JustFaith program,
what she describes as one of the highlights of her diocesan ministry.
“It’s such a great venue for really shaping and forming members of
the Catholic community,” she said. “That’s what parish social
ministry is all about.”
Steve Luteran, director of Catholic Charities, said that Murphy brought a “wealth
of experience and knowledge about Catholic Social Teaching and social justice” to
her position.
While Catholic Charities focuses primarily on acts of charity, he said, Murphy
continuously raised the importance of advocacy and justice work.
“That’s a part of our Church that can’t be neglected,” Luteran
said. “She was a good spokesperson in our agency about those issues and
a good reminder to our employees to never lose that sense of justice in their
work.”
Murphy is adamant about not using the word “retire” to describe this
movement from one phase of her life to the next.
“I’m not sure as Christians you can ever really retire,” she
said. Instead, she will continue to serve on various social justice boards and
committees both locally and nationwide — while she waits to see where God
calls her to serve next.
“If we don’t walk the talk, then what’s the point?” Murphy
said, uttering her often repeated motto. “I’ll still do justice work.
That’s the only thing to do.”
Gretchen R. Crowe can be reached at gcrowe@catholicherald.com.
