The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

With the state and the nation enmeshed in an economic crisis, it should come as no surprise that many in the faith community are intensifying their efforts to lend a hand to those in need.

Across the state, churches, mosques and synagogues are lending their support to food pantries and soup kitchens, often urging their members to open their wallets even more to help those struggling with high utility costs. And at least in some quarters, there is a renewed sense that times require a deeper involvement by those who have more time — as seen in the more recent efforts to recruit retired senior citizens for volunteer efforts. Consider the nearly two dozen Rhode Islanders who met at the offices of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank three weeks ago to help launch the first New England chapter of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps.

The lay group, drawing on some of the ideas set forth centuries ago by the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius Loyola, is hoping to enlist a cadre of retired senior citizens in this area to a program of community service (600 hours over 10 months) and spiritual enrichment, marked by retreats and meetings with spiritual reflectors.

Not far away, at the Open Table United Methodist Church in Providence’s Washington Park, church leaders are building a senior volunteer program of their own, training lay ministers to go out and offer a listening ear and comfort to people battered and made anxious by unemployment, sickness and economic distress.

Open Table’s pastor, the Rev. Duane Clinker, says his church already distributes food to 250 families a month, but as is usually the case, there is a need to do more.

He says: “The needs are so great. At our church alone, we’ve seen a ten-fold increase in people asking for rental or housing assistance this year alone. Unfortunately it’s not something we can easily solve on our own. For us to stop just one family from being evicted may cost thousands of dollars.”

But Mr. Clinker said he believes that the church, through its lay ministry program, is poised to make a significant difference in the lives of some who are hurting.

Toni Panciera, a registered nurse and nurse practitioner who became involved in the parish nursing movement after leaving her full-time position at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, is now one of the leaders helping to train the first wave of lay ministers, two men and nine women.

She says that because of her nursing background, she’s been able to help members of the church and some in the neighborhood who don’t have health insurance, going so far as to provide them with basic care either in their homes or sometimes meeting with them at a doctor’s office. There are also plans to open a health ministry office at the Open Table church in Warwick..

Having a team of lay ministers working alongside, Panciera says, means the church will be able to extend its caring ministry to people who might not otherwise be touched.

Clarice Gothberg, another key leader in the group, said she and other leaders have already started putting together a list of people they need to visit. It includes people who are grieving over the loss of a loved one, or who are grieving for family members they left behind in other lands. And it also includes shut-ins, people who are sick or in nursing homes, people who have lost their jobs or homes or face some other crisis.

To be sure, Gothberg is no stranger to enlisting volunteers, given that she was the director for 17 years of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program in Kent County.

If there is one element that distinguishes the church’s lay ministry program from other volunteer efforts, she says, it’s that prayer and spirituality are a crucial part of the work.

Yes, she says, the lay ministers may at times be called upon to help people facing economic distress by directing them to people who help them with jobs or housing or by showing them how to better manage their budget.

“But our role is not to be financial advisers. The most important thing we can do is listen. Doing that, and by going out in twos or threes, we can show those out there that they are still important to the community and that God cares.

“When bad things happen to you, you may be inclined to say, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ Sometimes it helps to have someone listening to you when you say that, and to realize that even if we don’t understand why things happen sometimes, God is present in both the good times and the bad.”

The Ignatian Volunteer Corps, the other new kid on the block, is not exactly new. Founded in 1995 by a pair of Jesuit priests, it now has more than 300 senior volunteers around the country. But the recent announcement that the corps will be recruiting retirees in Providence, Boston and Worcester marks the first time that the corps is organizing a chapter in New England.

While they bear some similarities and the same goals as the Jesuit Volunteers, which recruits young adults to devote a year or more of their lives to full-time community service away from home, the Ignatian Volunteers focus on the retired.

Instead of living in communes, the Ignatian Volunteers continue to live at home but commit to 600 hours of community service (typically two days per week) spread over 10 months. The other key component is spiritual: volunteers commit to maintain a journal, meet with a spiritual adviser or “reflector” at least two times a month, and with the larger community of volunteers at least monthly for meetings and retreats in which they study and reflect on key Ignatian concepts, such as praying with scripture and “finding God in all things.”

To be sure, it would be valid to say there would be no cadre of Ignatian Volunteers here were it not for the persistence of Bill Waters, a member of St. Margaret’s Catholic Church in Rumford and a former deputy director of the state Department of Health. Three years ago, as he began thinking of retirement, Waters came across a news story about Ignatian Volunteers.

“I thought, ‘This is exactly what I’ve been looking for, something that combines community service with spiritual enrichment,’ ” he recounted the other day.

But when Waters called the group’s national office in Baltimore to locate the nearest group, he discovered to his chagrin that the corps had no chapters in New England. It was then that Suzanne Geaney, the corps’ national executive director, suggested to Waters that he start one.

Now that effort is apparently paying off. At a kickoff meeting last month at the Food Bank, Geaney told Rhode Islanders that in other parts of the country non-profit groups working with the poor and marginalized like to have Ignatian volunteers because they are so dependable and come to be seen as part of their staff, even though they are unpaid.

“We have volunteers working with immigrants and in detention centers, and volunteers who are involved in teaching in schools and who are tutoring. We have volunteers who write grant applications and who can build houses,” she said. “They have a wealth of experiences, and what we try to do is link them to volunteer jobs that are suited to their talents and interests.”

All told, she said, the Ignatian Volunteer Corps has more than 300 volunteers working around the country, including 100 in Northern Virginia-Baltimore, 45 in Chicago and 35 in Philadelphia.

How the group will play out in Rhode Island, time will tell. Waters says the group is presently seeking a regional director. But Waters said he’s so eager to start volunteering that he’s already begun working Mondays at the meal site at St. Patrick’s Church on Smith Hill, doing whatever is needed, be it sweeping the floor, cutting tomatoes or helping to formulate a mentoring program for people who come for meals.

“I do think that the timing is very good for having the corps in New England,” Waters said. “The baby boomers are beginning to retire, and demographically there are a lot of people who will be thinking about what they are going to do in retirement.

“Obviously these are tight fiscal times, which make it very challenging for many people. It’s nice to think that as volunteers we can make a difference by helping organizations that are helping the poor and the marginalized, while we deepen our spiritual lives.”

Some of the other key leaders who have been helping to get volunteers off the ground here in Rhode Island are Colette Cook, a former Jesuit Volunteer who teaches at La Salle Academy, and publicist Nondas Voll. The Rev. Gerald Finnegan, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Woonsocket and one of two Jesuit priests working in Rhode Island, has expressed an interest in working with the group as well.

Those interested in becoming a part of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps can send an e-mail to NewEngland@IVCUSA.org or by calling Bill Waters at (401) 323-1136.

rdujardi@projo.com