“God makes promises and keeps them, and these promises are about love for us. During every challenge, every disappointment, I have held on to this.”

Carolyn Woo grew up in Hong Kong, a city of refugees who had fled from the communist government in China, as her own parents had done. Relatives crashed on their couches and brutal stories of Red Guards filtered through, but the ferment of the time fueled a drive to create opportunities. Wasting no time, Carolyn earned her doctorate in the United States and eventually became the highly successful dean of the Mendoza School of Business at Notre Dame.

And then Catholic Relief Services offered her the position of CEO and President of the global humanitarian arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Initially not interested, Carolyn eventually accepted the position for which her faith, education, business experience and personal background uniquely equipped her.

Working for a Better World is an engrossing account not only of Dr. Woo's own life, but of the ongoing critical work of CRS in meeting the needs of the poor, the traumatized, and the needy throughout the world. From typhoon-flattened cities in the Philippines to earthquake-devastated Haiti, CRS is there before the TV cameras arrive and there after they leave. And there in over 100 countries-helping subsistence farmers and health-care workers, orphans and refugees-in those neglected places where the cameras never come.

We must be “docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid,” Pope Francis has said. And in doing so, Dr. Woo affirms, “we never know when or how we will encounter God.”

Carolyn Woo

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