With joblessness on the rise, Catholic parishes across the country are looking for creative ways to help, from providing free job listings in bulletins and newspapers to complete employment assistance counseling.
Scott Alessi reports on the trend in the Feb. 1 issue of Our Sunday Visitor:
As out-of-work individuals nationwide scour job-search websites and flip through the classified pages, many are discovering that the best path to re-entering the workforce may be through their local parish.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national unemployment rate had risen to 7.2 percent in December, the highest it has been in the last 15 years. The number of people out of work has grown steadily since the economic collapse in October and is a dramatic increase over the unemployment rate of 4.9 percent only one year ago.
With companies continuing to cut employees from their payroll, parishes nationwide are beginning to launch ministries aimed at helping those who are looking for work to connect with potential employers and develop the skills necessary for finding a new job.
Rena Chrysler, director of stewardship and administration at St. Edward Parish in Bloomington, Minn., told Our Sunday Visitor that the parish first began to notice that its parishioners were falling on tough times when the weekly collection began to dip....
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