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From the way the newly installed president of the Ladies of Charity explained the mission of the organization, there are thousands of potential Ladies of Charity in the world. They just may not know it yet.
The president, Nancy C. Waters, who was installed at a Mass and ceremony Oct. 20, was speaking of the type of work with which the Ladies of Charity are involved.
Indeed, a promotional brochure recently created by Ms. Waters, says, “You could already be a Lady of Charity and just not be officially affiliated.” Explaining that concept in an interview with Catholic New York, she said each day offers “little moments” to encounter ways to be “Ladies of Charity.”
Listing just a few, she said, whenever a woman offers tea or speaks to a lonely neighbor, stops to assist a homeless person or even holds a door open for a mother struggling with a stroller, she is acting as a Lady of Charity.
“Life is filled with Lady of Charity moments,” she said.
The organization itself was co-founded in 1617 by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac. It also carries on the spirit of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Service is done in a Vincentian way of helping the poor and the marginalized materially and spiritually.
The volunteers are laywomen whose ministries include service at parishes, hospitals, nursing homes, childcare agencies and other social programs.
Ms. Waters becomes president following the death of Dorothea McElduff in January. The Oct. 20 Mass and affiliation ceremony was offered in the Lady Chapel at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, archdiocesan executive director of Catholic Charities, serving as the main celebrant and homilist. Nineteen new affiliates were installed, and some 100 Ladies of Charity attended.
The organization’s official name is Ladies of Charity of New York, and it functions under the umbrella of archdiocesan Catholic Charities.
Ms. Waters said, “Msgr. Sullivan gave me a special blessing asking the Holy Spirit to give me the intelligence and leadership skills I need to fulfill this assignment…It was a wonderful moment for me.”
Born in New York City and raised in Yonkers, Ms. Waters is the product of a Catholic school education. She attended Annunciation School in Crestwood and The Ursuline School in New Rochelle. She retired as director of communications and community relations of the Yonkers Public Library.
She joined the Ladies of Charity in 2004. Five years later, she became chairwoman of the Bronxville/Mount Vernon Council. She is an active parishioner of St. Joseph’s in Bronxville where she is a Eucharistic minister and lector.
“People really think that in order to be a Lady of Charity, you have to be involved in a particular effort,” said Ms. Waters, but that is not always the case.
The main purpose of a Lady of Charity, she said, is to “make a human connection.”
“Those little kindnesses are what we should really be about,” she said.
Information on the Ladies of Charity: (212) 371-1011, ext. 2542.
