Catholic Charities president welcomes chance to serve

BEDFORD -- Faith and public service have always been the cornerstones of Tiziana Dearing's life. She never anticipated that they would allow her to make history.

Last week, the 36-year-old Bedford resident was named president of Catholic Charities of Boston, making her the first woman to hold such a leadership role in the Archdiocese of Boston.

"I have an opportunity to serve the people who are serving those in need," said Dearing. "It's an opportunity every single day in [my] professional life to be supportive of those on the front lines. . . . That is incredibly exciting."

The archdiocese's charitable bureau has been around for more than 100 years and offers 140 programs in 40 locations in Greater Boston. With an annual budget of just under $40 million, Catholic Charities has social programs that help more than 200,000 people annually and include food, clothing, and rental assistance; parenting courses for parents; visits to the elderly; and drug and alcohol counseling.

Locally, Merrimack Valley Catholic Charities helps about 42,000 people from Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, and surrounding communities.

The youngest of nine children, Dearing was encouraged to volunteer at a local soup kitchen and teen drop-in center while growing up in Battle Creek, Mich. Her first job after college was helping poverty-stricken women in Chicago get financial footing through the Women's Self-Employment Project.

"I have made every major decision in my life based on a sense of calling," Dearing said. "My faith has been the map of my life. That doesn't always mean you know where you are going; you don't know where that sense of calling comes from, but in a nutshell that's it."

Dearing describes herself as a "friendly leader" and said she is more comfortable working with people behind the scenes than behind expensive, sprawling conference tables.

Before being named head of Catholic Charities, Dearing was executive secretary of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.

Mary Jo Bane, the academic dean at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard who has known Dearing first as a student, then a colleague and friend, said Dearing "has an enormous amount of energy and enormous commitment.