Catholic values at core of agencies’ work with families

While ShareLife has sustained the essential work of Catholic agencies that work to strengthen families across the Archdiocese of Toronto for the last half century, few of those partnerships reach as far back, or continue to run as deep, as the one with Catholic Family Services of Toronto, an agency whose own roots stretch back more than a century to 1922.

It was in that year that Catholic Family Services of Toronto got its start as the Catholic Welfare Bureau, an agency created to respond to the social pressures facing the city’s local Irish immigrant neighbourhoods. Under Archbishop Neil McNeil, the new agency centralized Catholic efforts to support struggling families dealing with poverty, addiction and general instability. 

Over the next few decades the bureau grew more professional and began adopting clinical social-work practices, all while remaining firmly rooted in its founding Catholic social teaching principles of respecting the dignity of every person and a preferential option for those most in need. 

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By 1956, the agency adopted its current name and started to focus its energies on counselling and family support, eventually expanding its offerings to bring specialized programs for women experiencing violence, children of separated or bereaved families, seniors and couples preparing for marriage to the accessible public. Today, the agency continues that same mission through individual, couple and family counselling, rapid-access single-session supports, wellness groups and targeted programs such as the “Because Kids are Worth It!” and parish-based seniors’ initiatives. 

Executive director Brenda Spitzer, who has led the organization for the past seven years, spoke to how those early foundations still shape the work still on offer today.

“Those same assessments and treatment plans have grown and expanded over the years, but Catholic social teaching will always be the focus, and that’s about really focusing on the folks who need it the most, who are most marginalized, as getting priority,” she said. 

That has fit nicely with ShareLife’s mandate since its founding 50 years ago.

In the ensuing half century, CFS Toronto has expanded its focus, staying true to its roots. It specifically included specialized work on violence against women in 1977, responding to a growing awareness of the issue within families in a move that brought provincial government funding to the agency. 

Services have continued to adapt based on identified community needs through periodic community needs assessments. A shift during the pandemic saw fully in-person delivery become hybrid services, a change Spitzer says many clients, especially men, parents with young children or those with work/travel barriers, have been preferring. 

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Last year alone, Catholic Family Services of Toronto served 4,577 people in counselling programming supported by ShareLife. When pondering that figure, Spitzer underscored why agencies like CFS Toronto remain essential. 

“The simple answer to that but for our services, a lot of our clients wouldn’t have another place to go. They might be on a wait list, need a referral from a doctor, but what we offer is community-based mental health and counselling that is very low barrier — not being able to pay for professional counselling or psychotherapy is not a reason someone shouldn’t be able to get help,” she said. 

Spitzer said ShareLife’s funding is critical, allowing for its sliding-scale fees, subsidies and occasional fee waivers, ensuring that a person’s inability to pay is never a barrier to its many services.  

As Spitzer conveyed, that long-standing support has not just been “nice to have,” but rather critical to the agency in the truest sense of the word. 

“We receive a tremendous amount of support from (ShareLife), and we just simply wouldn’t be able to provide the service to the people who need it most (without them). It is through them that we are putting our Catholic values into action. If we want to love our neighbour, what does that mean in terms of making a ShareLife contribution? It means your neighbour who might be in really dire straits, mental health issues, poverty or any other issues, can get help from that gift.” 

ShareLife supports numerous agencies concerned with family service, including Catholic Community Services of York Region, Catholic Family Services of Durham, Catholic Family Services of Peel-Dufferin, Barrie’s CFS Counselling and Wellbeing, Birthright International, Natural Family Planning Association and St. Marguerite Bourgeoys FertilityCare Toronto. 

Across all of these agencies, more than 17,000 clients have received mental health care from agencies funded by ShareLife.

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To Spitzer, the story of one man remains yet another clear example of how its mission continues to be lived out day in and day out. 

A man in his 70s, living in subsidized housing, came for help while struggling with loneliness, depression and isolation after separation from his wife, the loss of contact with his adult children and gambling problems triggered by his mental health struggles. Through counselling, Spitzer spoke of how he was able to develop healthier coping strategies, rebuild routines, re-engage in old hobbies and was even able to reconnect with old friends while creating a plan to address his debts. 

A version of this article appeared in the September 27, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "Catholic values at core of agencies’ work with families".