A Path to Hope: Dorcas’ Journey with St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities
When Dorcas walked through the doors of St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities in New Albany, she wasn’t just looking for shelter—she was looking for safety, for a fresh start, and for a future for her two young sons. With both children still in diapers and no income to support them, Dorcas had reached out to the national domestic violence hotline and found her way to the Women & Children’s Emergency Shelter. She arrived exhausted, alone, and uncertain—but determined.
From the moment she connected with the residential staff, Dorcas recalls being met with warmth, reassurance, and a spirit of deep compassion. “They didn’t just give me a place to stay,” she says. “They listened. They saw the potential in me I couldn’t see in myself.”
With the help of case managers and resources offered through the shelter, Dorcas quickly found a job and placed her boys in daycare. She enrolled in the Affordable Supportive Housing (ASH) program, and even as the pandemic disrupted the world around her, the staff at St. Elizabeth continued to walk beside her. When traditional housing options fell through, they helped her apply—and get approved—for a Habitat for Humanity home. Staff, volunteers, and even board members helped hammer nails and build the walls of her new life. In late 2023, Dorcas and her sons moved into their very own home.
“My children don’t understand the significance yet,” she says. “But one day they’ll know just how much love and support helped build our future. For us, St. Elizabeth’s isn’t just a program. It’s home.”
Offering Hope and Healing to Women and Families in Southern Indiana
St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities is a ministry of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Rooted in the Gospel call to serve, it has stood as a place of refuge, stability, and renewal for women, children, and families across Southern Indiana. Its mission—Providing help. Creating hope.—comes to life through an array of housing programs including an emergency shelter, a maternity home, a domestic violence shelter, and affordable supportive housing.
But the work goes far beyond housing. St. Elizabeth also provides school counseling in Catholic schools, operates a licensed adoption agency across Indiana and Kentucky, runs a distribution center for essential mother and baby items, and supports adults with developmental disabilities. Every year, the agency serves nearly 200 women and children, and none of it would be possible without the generosity of donors and the dedication of hundreds of volunteers who offer their time and talents.
As Director Mark Casper shares, “Our goal is to meet each person where they are, help them heal, and walk with them toward a stable future. None of us can do it alone—but together, we restore lives and renew dignity.”
This year’s United Catholic Appeal theme, Go Forth, calls each of us to take action—to extend the Church’s mission beyond the pews and into the lives of those who need it most. You may not be able to welcome a mother into shelter or build walls with your own hands, but your support ensures that someone else can.
When you give to the United Catholic Appeal, you become part of stories like Dorcas’. You provide more than temporary help—you build bridges to lasting hope. You allow our Catholic Charities ministries to go forth in love, in mercy, and in faith. And that, truly, is the work of Christ in the world.
