Connecting with Faith Communities to Serve Those in Need
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Maria Duvuvuei
Communications Strategist
(202) 295-1542
WASHINGTON – Leaders from faith organizations and mission-driven non-profits discuss the connections between faith communities and legal services on the latest “Talk Justice” podcast, released today. Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel at LSC, Will Gunn, hosts the episode, featuring Meghan Foley, the National Director of Emergency Disaster Services for The Salvation Army, and Father Pius Pietrzyk, a priest of the Order of Preachers who serves as the Vicar for Administration for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. Pietrzyk is Vice Chair of LSC’s Board of Directors.
For many, faith provides guiding principles, like the instruction to help those in need. Gunn explained that as a member of a nondenominational Christian church, he has found it very fulfilling that the work that LSC supports aligns with his beliefs and values.
“Civil legal services keep families in their homes, they protect victims of domestic violence, and they help communities hit by devastating disasters to rebuild and recover,” Gunn said. “Fostering connections between faith communities and legal services can lead to powerful collaboration and make profound differences in people’s lives.”
Foley’s career in disaster management has taken her from Catholic Charities to the American Red Cross, to the United Way and now The Salvation Army. She first learned about legal aid during the 2016 floods in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was leading a team of 15 case managers in one of the hardest hit areas, where they repeatedly encountered clients who could not prove ownership of their homes. These barriers prevented the case managers from assisting survivors or helping them attain recovery resources.
“They kept looking to me to have the answer and I didn't have the answer – it was very frustrating,” said Foley. “So, we really just had to do a lot of research and ask around, and we found legal aid societies that then said they would offer free legal advice to our clients to help with all of these barriers.”
Now, Foley is committed to making connections and sharing knowledge before disaster strikes so that communities are ready when it does. The Salvation Army recently launched their Faith and Community Based Organizations’ Disaster Training. The series of free, online trainings is designed to help local churches and organizations understand disaster preparedness, know how to serve their communities in the wake of disaster and learn how to connect to local emergency management and disaster relief organizations.
“Our mission is faith-based, and so we come to this work with a faith-based lens, and the scriptures guide us in how we support our most vulnerable neighbors,” Foley said. “And so, we partner with both other faith-based organizations and secular and civil organizations – together we create a really rich fabric of resiliency in the communities that we serve.”
Pietrzyk explained that LSC developed a Faith Community Outreach Toolkit to help faith leaders understand the role of legal services. When they understand legal aid’s purpose, they know to direct members of their community or congregation who are struggling with certain issues to their local legal aid office for help.
“Every pastor I know gets people who come into his office all the time with problems, and the pastor has been educated to deal with the spiritual issues that come up with them but is less able to deal with the legal issues and, like the people, might not know about them,” Pietrzyk said.
There are many ways that LSC-funded legal services organizations already collaborate with faith groups, Pietrzyk explained, including hosting clinics in local churches and religious centers, or just as a part of the legal services organization’s general approach to community outreach.
“An essential part of many, many – almost all – of our communities is the faith community: the churches and temples and synagogues that are the anchors for our communities,” said Pietrzyk. “We know from our grantees that if they want to reach out to where the poor are, if they want to touch the poor, if they want to find out what the problems are that are occurring with the poor, they need to be in contact with where they gather together…which is a lot of the churches.”
Full episodes of Talk Justice are available online. Listeners can find the show on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.