Many organizations or institutions have a mission statement. Typically, that is a brief summary of the reason for and goal of the work that it carries out. A mission statement serves as a reminder, a goal and a pledge for those involved.

I touch on this topic because I was recently reminded of the mission statement of our Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Rockford.

Catholic Charities is a vital part of the work of the Church in this diocese because it allows each of us to reach out to the poor and needy. For that reason, its mission statement is important for all of us. It reads:

“Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Rockford continues the ministry of Jesus in faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church. Our mission is to serve God for the common good with compassion, dignity and respect; to assist people in achieving a degree of independence consonant with their human dignity; and to work in solidarity with the Church and the other people of good will in advocating for justice.”

Our thoughts, prayers and contributions to Catholic Charities are particularly timely now during the Advent and Christmas seasons. These liturgical seasons are filled with reminders of the needs, the charity and the love that surrounded the birth of Jesus. And they call our attention to the many human needs and the opportunities to serve each other, and so serve Christ Himself, in our own day.

We are reminded of selfless charity in the person of Mary. She consents to God’s plan in her “yes” in response to the message of the Archangel Gabriel. Having conceived under conditions that perplexed and worried her betrothed spouse, St. Joseph, who would have blamed Mary for attending to her own needs and concerns? But instead, having learned of the pregnancy of her aging cousin, Mary selflessly hastens to Elizabeth and assists her in the birth of her child, John the Baptist.

During the Christmas Season, we are acquainted with other human needs that resonate through time and into our own day. Mary and Joseph, in poverty, are forced to sleep in a barn in Bethlehem. It is there that the child is born, with all of the needs that accompanied the first days of a newborn.

Soon after, Mary and Joseph become refugees, fleeing their homeland because of the threat of violence and death for their child. They are forced to seek shelter in a foreign land, not as a luxury, but as a means of survival.

Helping family members, assisting the birth of children even in circumstances of want, dealing with injustice inflicted by the powerful and by governments, fleeing to find safety, and the need all the while to support and provide for a family are all issues that surrounded the Holy Family. And those same issues are in the news today.

For that reason, under the umbrella of Catholic Charities, are our many efforts to respond to the human needs and to the injustice of our day. In keeping with the urging of Pope Francis, this is one of the most important means of living out our faith in the Diocese of Rockford.

As the mission statement notes, those efforts are distinctively Catholic. Our effort to assist the needy and bring about justice, regardless of their religion or denomination, is intimately linked to the Word of Christ and our acceptance of His teaching as the road to life eternal.

In that context, our diocesan Catholic Charities feeds the hungry, clothes the needy, assists single mothers and aids the elderly and those in nursing homes. Our staff regularly contacts government authorities to speak for the needs of those forgotten and to propose ways to assist people who might otherwise have no voice or go unnoticed. That is why that same mission statement commits us to a mission of working “for the common good with compassion, dignity and respect,” and “to work in solidarity with the Church and other people of good will in advocating for justice.”

The message of Advent and of Christmas is one of love, charity, forgiveness, recognizing the needs of others and the sacrifice to answer those needs. Our response of faith, of course, is carried on throughout the whole year. But in these days, as we prepare for Christ’s birth, our Catholic Charities gives us an additional chance to assist the needy as a part of our faith.