For Sister Judy O\u2019Brien, I.H.M., serving others is part of who she is. So she is excited to lead Friends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center, where helping others is part of the mission.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit\u2019s board of directors announced O\u2019Brien as its new president and CEO this week. She will start on Sept. 21.\n<\/p>\n
The Boston native comes to the organization during a time of transition.<\/p>\n
Its current president and CEO, Meghan Loftus, is departing this fall. The two Catholic-faith-based nonprofits, founded in 1984 and 1986, respectively \u2014 which provide housing, shelter, food, clothing and other assistance to those in need \u2014 announced they had completed a merger Aug. 1. The merged entity took both names with a new title of \u201cFriends of the Poor and Catherine McAuley Center,\u201d and Loftus became president and CEO.<\/p>\n
The merger came in response to increased needs for housing and shelter for disadvantaged families and growing food insecurity among marginalized residents, officials said.<\/p>\n
Loftus joined the Friends of the Poor nine years ago as the first layperson to lead that organization and then became president\/CEO of the combined FOTP\/CMC agency as part of the merger. She said in June she would stay at the helm into fall to give the agency time to search for and select a new leader and make a transition.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien has worked closely with Loftus over the years with her position on the IHM congregation\u2019s leadership team, and she commended Loftus on her work leading the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cMegan\u2019s done a great job over the last years,\u201d O\u2019Brien said in an interview Friday.<\/p>\n
As president and CEO, she sees it as her responsibility to create an organization in which the mission and responsibilities of both groups become one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is the job of the new president to make that happen so that in the upcoming years, it will be seen as one organization and not two,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
She plans to spend her first few months in the role listening to people in the organization about what they want for its future. Long-term, O\u2019Brien wants it to be a vital force in the area for eradicating poverty and homelessness.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien said she looks forward to leading a team that has people, particularly vulnerable people, at its heart and mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a great team there that has really put together a great organization,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A career of service to others<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien\u2019s career has included roles as principal of two Catholic schools in Massachusetts, director of human relationships for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in Rockville Centre, New York, and director of housing for Persons Living with AIDS at the INN of Long Island and Providence House in New York City.\n<\/p>\n
She is no stranger to Scranton, having worked as an assistant to the president at St. Joseph\u2019s Center and a counselor on the leadership team of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation in Scranton.\n<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Marywood University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, and a certification in spiritual direction from the Center for Spirituality and Justice in New York City.\n<\/p>\n
The board said in a statement she has spent her career dedicated to strengthening organizations and serving individuals and communities in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very pleased to welcome Sister Judy O\u2019Brien as the new CEO of Friends of the Poor and the Catherine McAuley Center,\u201d the board said in a statement. \u201cHer extensive leadership experience, commitment to service and demonstrated ability to bring people together will serve our organization and the communities we serve extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memories of founders<\/p>\n
Friends of the Poor was founded by the late Sister Adrian Barrett, I.H.M., who was also known as \u201cSister Sneakers.\u201d\u00a0Named for the Irish Catholic founder of the Sisters of Mercy in 1831 in Ireland, the Catherine McAuley Center in Scranton was founded by the late Sister Anne Paye, a former dean and professor at Misericordia University, where she was known as Sister Mary Paul.\n<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien knew Paye and was friends with Barrett and looked up to her when she was young. She said she\u2019s glad to have memories of both women as she becomes president and CEO, which she sees as a wonderful opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just see it as an incredible opportunity at this moment in my religious life to be able to do this and be a part of it,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cI know it will stretch me and just afford me a wonderful opportunity to be with so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Sister Judy O\u2019Brien, I.H.M., serving others is part of who she is. So she is excited to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-284040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}