Please join us for a 1-hour live chat with CRS President Ken Hackett on Wednesday, November 30 at noon eastern.

Although the chat won’t begin until noon eastern, please submit any questions you have now in the box below.

Ken Hackett with the leadership of a women’s Food Processing Center in Herat province. Photo by Matt McGarry / CRS Staff

CRS President Ken Hackett is currently traveling in Afghanistan where he’s seen behind the headlines, into the country and its people – a country where something as simple as a book can change lives.

“I have been thoroughly impressed by the vitality of the Afghan people, their ingenuity, their toughness and their desire that there be a better future than what they’ve experienced over the last 30 years.

For example, I met a man who is a leader in his particular village, where he is promoting programs for young girls and women’s education. The man had been a refugee in Iran, and when he came back a few years ago, having spent time during the Soviet occupation in Iran, his village was totally destroyed. He and his neighbors rebuilt the entire village and beautifully crafted homes, walls and compounds. They also beautifully tailored fields of wheat nearby. They worked hard, hoping for a better life for their children, and are doing great things to make that happen. And that was kind of awe-inspiring.
(more…)

Last month, at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, Ken Hackett accepted the Best Practices Award on behalf of Catholic Relief Services.

Watch his acceptance speech before the National Roundtable on Church Management.

In an op/ed article in the Baltimore Sun, CRS President Ken Hackett discusses the fight against HIV and AIDS, noting successes of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the need to keep full funding intact.

CRS President Ken Hackett addresses the graduating class of Villanova. Photo by John Welsh courtesy Villanova University.

CRS President Ken Hackett addressed the graduating class of Villanova this spring. The following is an excerpt from Ken’s speech. The complete pdf transcript is available from Villanova.

Look out beyond your immediate surroundings and engage the world. Catholic tradition tells us that we are one human family. Globalization is showing us that we are interconnected politically, economically and socially — for good or ill. Many of you have experienced a world beyond Pennsylvania, beyond the Main Line, to our cities and around the world. You have done service trips and seen a chunk of the world in service. You know that people, after the externalities come off, are the same no matter where they live.

Whether you are making millions or are hardly making ends meet, do something for others. It will make you feel great. It will make you feel like your life is worthwhile. And you may make a difference in someone else’s life.

Ken Hackett and Ange. Photo by Lane Hartill/CRS

Ken Hackett, the President of Catholic Relief Services, recently visited the Missionaries of Charity — the order founded by Mother Teresa — in Cotonou, Benin. Lane Hartill, CRS’ West Africa Regional Information Officer, accompanied him and writes about the visit:

Ange and his twin sister, Angel, 11 months old, showed up here a few weeks ago. Their mother, who has three other children at home, couldn’t care for them. And it showed. They have thinning hair, twigish limbs and skin mottled with rash. But the religious sisters here are nursing Angel and her brother back to health. The twins have greatly improved in the three weeks they’ve been here. When the sisters think they are healthy enough, they will go back to their mother. The sisters will then visit their home to make sure they are cared for.

As the sisters tell us the children’s stories, the toddlers sit on the floor and stare up at their new visitors. Ken quickly spots Ange (pronounced AHN-je, which means angel in French). “Hey Spike!” he says, as he squatted and picked him up. Ange likes the attention and Ken immediately takes to him. He bounces him in his arms and listens as the sisters tell us that the number of Beninese coming to their center has jumped in recent months. Food prices have shot up here, and the poorest of the poor — those who they serve — can’t manage.

One sister says that one portion of corn in Cotonou used to cost about $.75. Now it costs about $1.25 — out of the reach of many people.

“The poor people are starving because it’s too much for them,” says the sister. “People here are living hand to mouth.”

The head sister shares anecdotes, one after another, that illustrate the problems: A woman went to the local Catholic Church and left a baby boy with another person and told her she’d be right back. She never returned. And the baby, it was later discovered, had a serious wound on his back.

Not long ago, a baby was found in a Dumpster, tied up in a sack. A passer-by heard the cries, opened the sack and brought the baby to the Missionaries of Charity.

But despite the rough circumstances, the sisters say Beninese still have hope and are persistent, many showing up at 5 a.m. to wait for food. “Even though they are suffering day after day after day, they accept it,” says the sister. “It’s amazing how they accept it.” What’s more remarkable, she says, “They have a place in their heart for God.”

“At the Missionaries of Charity,” Hackett says, “you’re in the midst of giants. [The sisters] are not trying to change something; they’re accepting it. They’re not like the rest of us who think we’re going to fix all the problems.”

Carla Brown-Ndiaye, the head of CRS’ Benin office, who is in the process of adopting a little girl from the Missionaries of Charity here, says the sisters are incredible.

“I find them to be just amazing women,” she says.