^{(Photo Courtesy of Catholic Charities USA)}

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Becoming the first laywoman to lead Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) was the answer to a prayer Kerry Alys Robinson had been saying for years. 

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As a teenager participating in the work of her family’s foundation, the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, Robinson looked up to all of the people she saw responding to the suffering and injustice of others – many of whom were women. 

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Even at a young age, ”I could imagine that they were seeing the worst of what humankind does to one another and to our common home – our planet,” Robinson said in an interview with FCNews. “Yet their ministry, so fueled by their faith, allowed them to have this interior freedom and joyfulness that I envied . . . I just remember wanting to be like them.” 

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Robinson grew up near Washington D.C. and later in Connecticut. She fell in love with the Church through the philanthropic work of her family’s foundation, which is now 80 years old and has passed through five generations. Members of her family are invited to begin involvement in the foundation’s work as teenagers – which involves reviewing project proposals and grant requests by people working to provide “healthcare and food, humanitarian aid, education, the ministry of presence, to advocate for justice, to sow the seeds of peace, to champion those who have no voice,” Robinson said. She credits this experience as what motivated her to spend her career in service of strengthening the Church.

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“I used to pray that God would lead me to something that would kind of behind the scenes help them – my childhood heroines – thrive, unencumbered in their own ministry and purpose,” Robinson said.  

Robinson’s Road to CCUSA

This work with her family’s foundation was the starting point for her future career in philanthropy. She began on the funding side, helping foundations determine how to best maximize their impact on worthy causes, until Father Bob Beloin, the head of the Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University at the time, convinced her to join him there as the director of development, where she served from 1997-2006. The two became close friends. 

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During that time, Robinson also co-founded ESTEEM, a leadership formation program for young adult Catholics at more than a dozen college and university campuses across the United States and the Caribbean.

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Robinson later served as the founding executive director of Leadership Roundtable, a non-profit that formed in 2005 in the wake of the clerical sexual abuse crisis with the mission of helping the Church heal by promoting best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications and human resource development in the U.S. Catholic Church. In particular, the organization emphasizes greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity. 

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Now in her role as president and CEO of CCUSA, she leads the national non-profit organization that provides support and resources to the 168 local Catholic Charities agencies across the country. The organization's mission is “to provide service to people, families and communities in need, to advocate for justice in social structures and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same.”

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This mission is actualized by providing humanitarian aid to immigrants, creating affordable housing for those who need it most, feeding the hungry, and advocating for the needs of the vulnerable populations they serve to Congress – among other services. Last year, Catholic Charities agencies across the country served more than 15 million people.

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One of Robinson’s first actions after assuming her role in August 2023 was to travel to the border to visit the Catholic Charities agencies there and see the realities of their ministry first hand. Now, CCUSA is preparing to participate in a new initiative called “Team Up Project”, which is a national partnership between Habitat for Humanity, the YMCA, Interfaith America and CCUSA aimed at lessening the polarization that exists in the United States. The project will provide training and resources to people across the United States to facilitate projects that invite a diversity of people to collaborate together to meet a need in their community.

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With this opportunity to serve CCUSA and all of the people doing humanitarian work at local Catholic Charities agencies, Robinson said she feels like her childhood prayer is being answered. 

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“I am tremendously humbled to represent Catholic Charities USA as a sign of so much hope and mercy and love in this world,” Robinson said.

An Advocate for Women in the Church

Robinson has spent much of her career advocating for the role of women in the Church. She was among a group of six women who, since 2007, has traveled to the Vatican on several occasions to speak to cardinals there and to advocate for women in the Church. 

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Their recommendations included increasing the number of women who serve on advisory councils in the Vatican’s offices, ensuring that one of the criteria in selecting a bishop is his ability to form healthy, well-adjusted relationships with women, and providing day care for Vatican employees.

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“We always brought forward these concrete suggestions – none of which defied magisterial teaching or violated canon law or was ignorant of ecclesiology – and we argued that these should be taken seriously, that little by little it makes a difference,” Robinson said. “It makes a difference especially to young women – our daughters, our nieces, our granddaughters – who are paying attention.”

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Today, Robinson sees continued need for growth in the Church’s inclusion of women.

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“When we see women in positions of leadership, when we hear their prophetic voice, when we note that they are included in decision making, when it is visible and obvious, then we can see ourselves in that role,” Robinson noted. “There are a lot of subtle ways that women are excluded that don't make sense, and I think it is an invitation to all of us who care deeply about the vitality and the mission of the Church to pay attention to these subtle ways and not so subtle ways.”

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Robinson believes the Church does not fully utilize the talents of the “extremely well-trained, well-educated, well-formed women who are studying theology at the masters and doctoral level” to provide reflections on scripture.

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“There are a whole host of things we can do all of which are canonically permissible - but we have failed to do for I guess maybe a failure of will or a lack of imagination,” Robinson said.

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Another example of exclusion is in the Sunday lectionary, where significant passages of the Bible with women and girls as protagonists are left out. Among the passages omitted from the readings for Sunday Mass are: the story of Deborah, the entire books of Ruth and Esther, and the story of the appearance of the Risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene.

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“I am not accusing anyone of malice here, but when we miss an opportunity for a young girl attending Mass on a Sunday to see a young girl reflected as a protagonist in the scriptures, that has a consequence,” Robinson said.

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One of those consequences is that young women do not recognize the leadership roles that are available to them in the Church, which Robinson said could lead to the Church missing out on the gifts and talents that they have to offer.

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“It is not that women are more capable than men, or are more judicious than men, it really is that we need the diversity to be healthy and whole and more effective,” Robinson said. “We need each other.”

Signs of Hope

Robinson believes Catholic Charities and the humanitarian work of the Church in the U.S. is a “hopeful reflection” of the type of diversity she wants to see in the Church. At CCUSA, there is a core team of eight people, including Robinson – four women and four men. Out of the 168 local Catholic Charities agencies, 85 are led by female chief executives, and 70% of the full-time staff members are women, Robinson noted.

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“The great majority of the domestic humanitarian work of the Church in the U.S. is directed by and carried out by women,” Robinson said. “This is significant and I think shows in the quality of the service that has been provided.”

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Robinson also highlighted the work of the organization Catholic Women Preach, which invites theologically-grounded women from all around the world to reflect on the Sunday scriptures, which serves as a resource to priests and catechetical teachers.

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“What I have found particularly compelling about how Catholic Women Preach is used and viewed as a resource is its positive effect on Catholic high school students, because they see something different that they thought they were forever excluded from,” Robinson said.

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She also highlighted the leadership of the global synod, where Sister Nathalie Becquart and Cardinal Mario Grech have co-led the process together, and the increasing numbers of women serving in essential leadership roles in dioceses, such as chancellors, superintendents of Catholic school systems and Chief Financial Officers.

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“The more diverse and reflective of the people of God, the better our decisions are, the better our prayerful discernment, the better our prophetic voice,” Robinson said. “There is a great grace in diversity. It’s God-given. Why wouldn't we celebrate that?”

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