Catholic Charities celebrates serving community through selfless service
Catholic Charities hosted its Fifth Annual St. Nicholas Ball, the agency’s signature gala, on Dec. 1 at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. The gala is an event to gather and reflect on the organization’s progress serving all people with love. The evening included fine dining, live entertainment, and a live and silent auction. Items included Christmas in New York, a 2019 Master’s Golf Tournament package, a 2019 Superbowl Weekend, and dinners with Auxiliary Bishop Michael Boulette and Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS.
Catholic Charities’ President/CEO, J. Antonio Fernandez, Archbishop Gustavo and several other dignitaries were present to welcome guests and reflect on the 2018 year of service with love, respect, and dignity. St. Nicholas Ball Chair Couple, Bill and Margie Klesse, also celebrated with guests. Carolers and the San Antonio Children’s Ballet performed before the dinner began. Deborah Knapp from KENS 5 News was this year’s emcee.
In his comments at the event, Archbishop Gustavo offered his praise for the outreach of Catholic Charities. “They do so much for so many with so little!” he exclaimed. “It is incredible the amount of service and the quality of service that is provided! It should make all of us very proud to be a part of this, together.”
Last year the Holy Father, Pope Francis gave an impromptu TED talk to an audience in Vancouver, Canada. He encouraged his listeners to recognize that the power for expanding goodness is multiplied many times over when we put our efforts together.
The Holy Father said, “I would love it if this meeting could help to remind us that we all need each other and we can only build the future by standing together, including everyone.” The pope decried what he called a “culture of waste” that extended beyond food and goods, to cast vulnerable people aside.
“At Catholic Charities we cast no one aside. Whether they are the poor, the indigent, the refugee, those effected by natural disasters, the illiterate — we make no distinctions,” the archbishop emphasized. “If you are human and you are in need we will do whatever we can to help you. That’s our job, and we do it together!”
Pope Francis ended his talk with a message of hope, however, saying that the world needs a “revolution in tenderness.”
“My friends, you and I are the front line in this ‘revolution in tenderness.’ The love of God, made human in the person of Jesus, whose birth we will celebrate in a few weeks, is now extended through us, together,” Archbishop Gustavo concluded. “Together we are the revolution in tenderness. Together we are the face of Christ reaching out to his most vulnerable children. Together we can change the world, one person at a time! Thank you! God bless you! Give lots of money tonight! Together we can do it!”
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