Kerry Alys Robinson: Generous and Grateful Servant Leadership

Episode 70 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe:  Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, enjoys a conversation with Kerry Alys Robinson, CEO and President of Catholic Charities USA, who shares that witnessing the joy and faith of Catholics serving others in her childhood sparked her own inspiration and desire to serve behind the scenes in pursuit of the common good. “True leadership is service,” says Kerry. “It is a disposition of other-centeredness.” Expressing her passion for Catholic Social Teaching, she addresses the realities of wealth gaps and classism and how injustice can divide the people of God. Responding to the needs of the people of God, Kerry emphasizes, requires not competition but charity and justice. “Generosity is humankind's birthright,” says Kerry about the call to kindness, both to oneself and to others. Together she and Sister Julia explore the messiness of diversity, polarization, judgment and how a life of service and prayer require openness to the other. Says Kerry, “Everything belongs and is interconnected.” ABOUT THE GUEST Catholic Charities USA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson is a noted expert in Catholic leadership and philanthropy and only the second woman and second layperson to lead the U.S. Catholic Church’s domestic humanitarian work. In the past year, the nationwide Catholic Charities network served more than 15 million people in need. For decades, Kerry has served the church and its mission to alleviate human suffering. Most recently, she was an executive partner at Leadership Roundtable, which since 2005 has promoted excellence and best practices in the management, finances and human resource development of the Catholic Church. She was the group’s founding executive director. Prior to that, Kerry served as director of development for Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University, leading a $75 million fundraising campaign to expand and endow the chapel’s ministry and construct a Catholic student center. A member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities), she has been an advisor to and trustee of more than 25 grantmaking foundations, charitable nonprofits and family philanthropies. She served for 15 years on the national committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Robinson is an accomplished writer and speaker and wrote the prize-winning Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service. A graduate of Georgetown University and Yale, Robinson is married to Dr. Michael Cappello, professor of medicine and public health at Yale University. They have two children, Christopher and Sophie. MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.  Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans. Email us at [email protected]