As the largest faith-based private provider of social services in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Catholic Human Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia welcomes the proposed rules changes in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. These changes would greatly expand the opportunities for faith-based and community organizations to cooperate with the federal government to provide social services to people in need. President Bush is obviously committed to doing all that is possible to level the playing field for both faith-based and non-sectarian providers in order to improve the quality of life for everyone.

I am grateful that the proposed changes would allow federal funds to support social services in buildings also used for worship services. Quite practically, these changes will expand the number of potential social service venues, increase the number of potential providers and help to make social services more readily accessible. The Catholic Church has a long history of helping the most vulnerable among us and has partnered with government agencies over many years to protect children, shelter the homeless and bring comfort and support to the elderly. This would enable the Church to do even more and would give smaller faith-based organizations the ability to develop their current space in order to meet the many diverse and human needs of our communities regardless of race, religion or ethnicity.

Contact
Catherine L. Rossi
Director of Communications
215-587-3747