By A.M. Kelley
Superior Catholic Herald
CRS regional director vacations near Minong
SUPERIOR -- In mid-September Kevin Hartigan was vacationing at his family's cabin on Kimball Lake near Minong. It was a little more than a weekend getaway. As regional director in South Asia for Catholic Relief Services, Hartigan has an office in New Delhi, India. But he also oversees CRS programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and assists partner agencies in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
To take time out from his usual far-flung travels he came to Wisconsin to a spot where he spent childhood summers. His wife Dominique Morel, a French national, accompanied him. She also works for CRS as its deputy regional director for program quality. On-the-job the couple travels about 75 percent of the time. Employed by CRS since they were recruited as graduate students for one-year internships, they have been globetrotting since 1990.
"We represent the American Catholic community overseas," Hartigan said, in a telephone interview with the Catholic Herald. "(CRS) is an example of the good works of American Catholics and are a concrete form of solidarity with the poor and the church around the world."
Chances are every parishioner in the Superior Diocese supports the work of the Hartigans since parishes are asked several times a year to contribute to CRS, according to Steve Tarnowski, the diocesan director of stewardship and development. The Operation Rice Bowl collection on Ash Wednesday benefits CRS as does the World Concerns collection on the fourth Sunday of Lent. In addition to these regular appeals, special collections are sometimes taken throughout the year following floods, earthquakes or other emergencies.
"(CRS) is a great vehicle to get funding to disaster areas," Tarnowski said.
What happens to money that parishioners give to these appeals? No one is better equipped than Hartigan to answer that question.
He spent most of June in Afghanistan visiting schools that CRS established in isolated villages and in "semi-nomadic communities." Many of the educational programs assist older women and girls who were prevented from going to school under the rule of the Taliban. The women often have families of their own.
"Most of the schools have attached day care centers for their children," he said.
Even though they establish schools in areas where the Taliban is "less likely to come back," Hartigan said, "these communities are taking great risks. It's a danger for them."
They are poor, illiterate and very traditional tribal people, some just living in tent villages. Even so, the Afghans receive the CRS workers warmly.
"The people are extremely hospitable," he said. "And they are excited about having their children in school."
The mosques are often the only structures available to use for the schools. And the mullahs, (the Muslim religious leaders), are often the only literate ones in a village and they are being trained to teach in the new schools.
Hartigan said that security for CRS is sometimes worrisome but over all is "pretty good." A lot of CRS funds promote the programs of partner agencies such as local Catholic Charities where they exist in foreign dioceses. Jesuit Refugee Services is another partner agency. CRS provides these agencies with technical services. On its staff, CRS has experts in HIV, water, sanitation, flood recovery and engineering.
"We have about 500 people, mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan where there are no local churches (because these countries are predominately Muslim)," Hartigan said. "There we have engineers and other experts who work for us directly."
Hartigan calls it a "privilege" to be employed by CRS.
"We work with very heroic churches around the world," he said. "There are incidences of teachers being threatened or killed. It's extremely dangerous work (for them)."
In India, only two percent of the population are Catholics," he said, "but the Catholic Church supplies 20 percent of health care and education in the country. American Catholics should take some pride in it."
Private donors and dioceses in the United States fund the work of CRS but the majority of its resources come from grants, most often underwritten by the U.S. Government.
"We spend a lot of time writing grants," Hartigan said to support CRS in 100 countries and most of those are predominately Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu countries.
"We are very well received," he said. "We are very respectful of local religions."
Hartigan said that people overseas are more aware of the good works of CRS than most American Catholics.
"Americans may be naive and undereducated (about international affairs), but they are generous," he said. "Parishes should support our work, but it's also important that they just be aware of it. The charitable instincts of the church and dioceses are producing a lot of good works."
He said a poignant scene for him was the inside walls of the many mosques used for schools, where education is being introduced to the villagers for the first time.
"They are covered with drawing assignments of kids," Hartigan said. "Just like any school, anywhere. And there are the kids are sitting on the floor. We've opened a great number of these schools."
CRS has worked in India for 62 years and for 50 in Pakistan, but in Afghanistan its presence is more recent where education is really being introduced for the first time in many remote villages.
"They are very enthusiastic," he said. "They are proud of their new schools and are willing to have their girls educated."
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2007