Catholic Charities
Providing help. Creating hope.

Code of Ethics for Catholic Charities

As a member organization of Catholic Charities USA, we agree that:

• All policies, programs and practices support the sanctity and dignity of human life from the moment of conception until death; the value and integrity of the human person; the sacredness of the union of man and woman in marriage; the value of people's social relationships to one another and to community and the central role of the family in human life and in society.
• We will reach out to help those who are suffering and shall adopt, in the allocation of limited resources, a preference for serving the neediest and the most vulnerable members of the community.
• We acknowledge and support the right of all people to seek and pursue their own life goals, within the limits of the common good, whereby they can freely enter into participation with others in order to fulfill their common human potential and contribute to the building of a more humane community.
• We will identify ourselves to the pluralistic community as a means by which the Church community seeks to fulfill its social mission.
•  We will seek full support and participation of the people of God through representation on policy-making boards of directors, social ministry efforts and through the involvement of volunteers in the programs of the agency.
• We will collaborate with other individuals, groups and social agencies on issues, policies and programs which are compatible with a Christian value system, in the interest of achieving the fullest measure of charity and justice.
• In all policies, procedures and practices we will be faithful to biblical values and to the social teaching of the Church.
• We will function faithfully within the mission and structures of the diocese with proper respect for the role of Bishop Nevins.
• We will assure conformity with relevant civil law in the agency governance, at the same time we will hold ourselves free to seek peacefully to change oppressive civil laws.
• We will seek to realize in action the virtues of charity and justice in all relationships, with staff, volunteers, the people served and the larger community.
• We will recognize confidentiality as a living principle within the agency and establish policies and procedures to assure protection of the privacy of the relationships established with our clients and other relevant bodies.
• We will hold ourselves fully, consistently and publicly accountable for our program and fiscal operations and seek objective certification that we meet those standards of quality in performance.
• We seek cooperation between public and voluntary agencies and hold government responsible for programs essential for the general welfare.