At the helm of Catholic Charities; Kennedy reflecting on the stewardship of the ministry

Traci Kennedy is using the skills she honed at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in new her role as executive director of Catholic Charities.

“I truly think the Lord put me at St. Thomas to learn a lot of the skills I’m utilizing now at Catholic Charities – or will in the future,” she said.

As director of Stewardship and Pastoral Planning at the parish, Kennedy said she was able to conduct strategic planning, work on demographic studies, and learn from other duties she is able to use at Catholic Charities.

Charities’ work is stewardship

“But the main thing I’ve been reflecting on is the aspect of stewardship,” she said last week. “Because what we do at Catholic Charities is stewardship. There’s no better place to practice missionary discipleship, no better place to respond to our call to baptism.”

Kennedy succeeds Wendy Glick, who stayed on for 60 days to assist in the transition.

“I wish I could have taken all of her knowledge and transferred it over to me,” she said. “The team that she has set up, they’re all amazing. I’m learning from them every day. They’re supporting me and I’m trying to support them.”

One of the immediate challenges Kennedy and other Catholic Charities employees are attempting to address is staff shortages.

ADS in need of loving workers

“At ADS (Adult Day Services) we just can’t hire all the people we need,” she said. “Our staff is stretched. We’re trying to look at our compensation for all of the different levels of positions, seeing how we can become the employer of choice in compensation but also in fringe benefits as simple as providing each ADS employee with five new shirts when they start so they don’t have to worry about having clean shirts as the week progresses.”

Catholic Charities faces the same challenges at its shelters, she said. “It’s hard work and it’s not for everybody. We’re working on retention.”

The clients at Harbor House or St. Anthony Family Shelter also have struggles, Kennedy said.

“They are not only dealing with homelessness, they are dealing with addictions and mental health issues. We’re trying to better understand how we can help them – what needs to be addressed first.”

Reaching out into the community

Not all of those issues, though, are in Catholic Charities’ sphere of operations. “We’re working with community partners to better understand how we can work together and try to get the clients the service they need.”

Kennedy said she is still learning about each of the 13 ministries under Catholic Charities’ umbrella, including Immigration Services, that don’t get a lot of publicity.

“My perspective always was that Catholic Charities was a great organization. I’ve known Wendy for a long time. I know the hard work she put in here. I knew she was doing amazing things. So the reputation was something that attracted me to the organization,” she said.

Wendy Glick left a legacy

“Wendy has the organization financially sound – that was really attractive, too, because a lot of times people going in as a new executive director are facing huge messes, and I wasn’t going to have to face them. That was good. It’s a true blessing.”

As the agency marks 80 years of serving within the Diocese of Wichita in 2023, Kennedy is working with the board to map out a plan for what comes next. While the plan is under development, Kennedy said, she has asked the staff to be patient.

“My role is going to be to serve in a way that we can achieve the mission that our board of directors sets. We’re about to engage in strategic planning,” Kennedy said. “I’m really eager for that process to come about and to reevaluate our vision and mission. That will become my vision and mission.”