Gracie Mansion Centennial Honor Is Shared With a Friend

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Recognizing the centennial celebrations of archdiocesan Catholic Charities and UJA-Federation of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio paid tribute to both agencies at Gracie Mansion and said they “make the work we do so much stronger.”

“We could not reach the people we reach without them,” the mayor said in his remarks at the evening reception June 13, the day after the annual Catholic Charities Gala at the American Museum of Natural History.

The city and world Catholic Charities and UJA were founded to assist was much different from the one today, both in needs to be served and agencies providing services, de Blasio said.

“Their chapters in New York City just happened to spring up in 1917, in a time of great doubt in the world. Middle of a world war, a time of great concern, and good people got together—people of faith, people who cared deeply for their community. (They were) visionaries who realized that there was so much need that was going unmet, and something different had to be built.”

The mayor, at the end of his remarks, proclaimed June 13 as Catholic Charities and UJA Centennial Day in the city of New York. He presented the citations to Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities, and Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York.

A large crowd with board members, donors, administrators and staff members of both agencies filled the reception room. Catholic Charities and UJA don’t just share an anniversary; they cooperate on various initiatives including the annual Feeding Our Neighbors campaign.

“That we share our centennial with the UJA Federation makes it even better,” said Msgr. Sullivan, noting the agencies’ mutual work on behalf of “compassion and justice” in New York.

Catholic Charities is “very proud of being a faith-based organization” that reaches out to affirm the dignity of every human person no matter their language, country of origin or religion, Msgr. Sullivan said.

“We believe that our faith calls us to reach out, to recognize God in that person, and together create a common good.”

—John Woods