Apr 2, 2018NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
(Credit: photo courtesy of Catholic Relief Services)
NEW YORK - As a young student studying social work at the University of Iowa, Joan Rosenhauer dedicated her spare time to community organizing, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that her very own Catholic Church was one of the world’s largest responders to human need around the world.
Despite being raised Catholic, Rosenhauer told Crux that it was “eye-opening” to realize “just how many programs” and initiatives the Catholic Church runs, particularly through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Three decades later, after working in some of the U.S. Church’s most critical social development and advocacy programs, Rosenhauer has been appointed as the new executive director of Jesuit Refugee Service USA (JRS/USA), effective March 27.
Rosenhauer’s appointment serves as a one-two punch of sorts, coming at a time in which more than 65 million refugees are currently displaced around the world, and also when the topic of women’s leadership within the Church continues to dominate conversation - indicating a strong vote of confidence on the part of the Jesuits to put a woman in charge of one of the most pressing issues facing the Church and the world today.
