Cleveland, Ohio -- Apirl 9, 2008 

Leonard M. Calabrese to lead as President of Caritas Connection and Executive Director of Ministering Together.  The announcement was made by Mr. Bill Plato, Chair of the Caritas Connection Board of...

CLEVELAND – Ohio/October 2007 — Sr. Rosemarie Carfagna, OSU joins the Sisters of Charity Health System as Senior Vice President, Mission and Ministry. The announcement was made by Sisters of Charity Health System President & CEO Sr....

Cleveland, Ohio -- Apirl 9, 2008 

Leonard M. Calabrese to lead as President of Caritas Connection and Executive Director of Ministering Together.  The announcement was made by Mr. Bill Plato, Chair of the Caritas Connection Board of Directors, Mr. J. Thomas Mullen, President and CEO of Catholic Charities Health and Human Services, Diocese of Cleveland and Sisters of Charity Health System President & CEO Sr. Judith Ann Karam, CSA.  Mr. Calabrese will assume his new responsibilities on April 14, 2008. Caritas Connection is a collaboration between the Sisters of Charity Health System and Catholic Charities Health & Human Services, Inc. (CCHHS).  Caritas Connection integrates services provided by the Sisters of Charity Health System’s sponsored hospitals with community-based Catholic social service organizations, senior living facilities, nursing care facilities, and higher education institutions.  The Caritas Connection partnership encourages Catholic sponsored providers across Northeast Ohio to offer greater continuity of care, especially for the underserved.  Recent achievements include the establishment of a center of excellence for the deaf and hearing impaired at St. Vincent Charity Hospital and a coordinated process providing health care to refugees resettled in northeast Ohio through Catholic Charities.  Mr. Calabrese will have a dual role as Executive Director for Ministering Together, a national coalition.  In this capacity, Mr. Calabrese will continue the work to encourage collaboration among those ministering in Catholic education, health care, human services, and parishes to better serve the needs of the poor and vulnerable. Thus far, Ministering Together has helped to facilitate significant collaborative efforts in dioceses and Catholic ministries across the country.  Current organizations participating include:  Catholic Health Association, Catholic Charities USA, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, National Associations of Catholic Personnel and Administrators, National Catholic Education Association, National Federation of Priests Council, and other national groups. Mr. Calabrese is well known among regional Catholic and social service organizations.  Since 1987, he has served as Executive Director of the Commission on Catholic Community Action, a CCHHS organization.  In that capacity he was part of the core team for The Church in the City Initiative and was staff for the CCHHS/John Carroll University Center for Social Ministry Partnerships.  He was also part of the adjunct faculty at John Carroll University in University Heights, OH in 2007, working as a co-Instructor for the Poverty and the Human Condition Honors Course.  In 2002, he served as an adjunct lecturer for the Catholic Social Teaching Graduate Course at St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Wickliffe, OH.

Before joining the Commission on Catholic Community Action, Mr. Calabrese was on the Faculty at The University of Akron for 11 years.  He was an Associate Professor of Social Sciences when he resigned tenure in 1988.  Prior to that, he held various year-long advisory positions, including roles as consultant to the Mayor of Cleveland concerning urban development and job training strategies; consultant to the Chancellor of Cuyahoga Community College for college-community economic revitalization strategies; and consultant to the Minority Leader of the Ohio Senate for public policy initiatives in education, and economic development.

Mr. Calabrese is extremely active in civic and community activities. His current involvements include service as a public appointee to the Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) Board of Directors where he is Vice President, and acts as Liaison to the CCPL Foundation.  He also sits on the Community Advisory Committee for John Carroll University’s Nonprofit Administration Master’s Program and chairs the Immigrant Minority Business Alliance. His representation on various community boards includes membership on City Club of Cleveland Board of Directors and Executive Committee from 1996 to 2002.  He was City Club President from 2001 to 2002 and acted as Co-Convener, of the City Club’s Presidents’ Council from 2002 to 2005.  Mr. Calabrese has authored several research publications and received numerous honors in recognition of his work, including the 2005 John Carroll University Alumni Medal and listing in Who’s Who in America. A magna cum laude graduate of John Carroll University, Mr. Calabrese earned his Masters Degree in history summa cum laude from Northwestern University.  He and Dorothy, his wife of forty years, reside in the Cleveland area.  They are the parents of two married sons, and grandparents of four.###