Background on New Catholic Bishops Executive Director For Social Justice Concerns - Jonathan J. Reyes

Updates at bottom-


As I posted earlier I have been a tad under the weather today but a significant hire has got me up to do a post.

 Jonathan J. Reyes, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities and Community Services of the Archdiocese of Denver since 2009 has been named to head executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) See the USSCB announcement here.  This position is pretty high profile and needless to say is at the forefront  of the Bishops efforts when they are lobbying Congress.

Some might recall the supposed controversy over who would replace John Carr in this position in a recent Washington Post article. See Key ‘moderate’ Catholic, hailed by choir on left.

Therefore it is going to be interesting to see how this appointment is viewed and perhaps more importantly FRAMED by the media that sometimes has a limited roledex as to Catholic voices to consult on these things.

You can look over the most recent Catholic Charities of Denver annual report here on this page  to get a idea of what he has been doing.

In an article written by the then Archbishop of Denver Chaput called Renewing the Mission of Catholic Charities he mention Dr Reyes. He said in part :

Having said all this as a kind of preface, I want to return to the particular focus of my remarks: What exactly does it mean when we say that a social ministry is "Catholic"? Dr. Jonathan Reyes, the CEO of our Catholic Charities here in Denver, gave me the following answer, and it's a good one. A social agency is "Catholic" in two main ways. Structurally, it's an arm of the local Church and organic to her mission. And evangelically, it's a witness to the commandment given to us by Jesus Christ to love God first and above all; and then to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.


Antother article of interest I saw thjat mentioned  him from last year was Latino leaders’ summit seeks national renewal of faith . Earlier this past yaer he tlaked on the contraception HHS mandate at the Legatus Conference. The video is linked here .


Dr Reyes is a very big part of the New Evangelization that really is going gangbuster in the Denver area. Dr Reyes is currently  part of the St Augustine Institute for instance.
He appears to be a very good hire for this important position.

Update- A writer at America has a first reaction at New Director of USCCB Justice, Peace and Human Development

Also see Christ in the City calls young missionaries to serve Denver's poor via CNA.

A good vid where Dr Reyes talked about the "Catholic Moment" . Start at 40 min mark