Catholic agency headed by its first Mormon

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Catholic agency headed by its first Mormon

By Kristen Moulton The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune

Updated:03/05/2009 04:52:06 PM MST

Brad Drake figures it is something of a miracle that brought him to Catholic Community Services, the social service arm of the Catholic Church in Utah. After all, Drake is a lifelong and devout Mormon, a former bishop. "Why would someone of the LDS faith be in this position?" Drake asks. "It's probably a miracle and I say that in my behalf." Drake, of Layton, was hired as executive director by the CCS board of trustees last summer after a search that attracted about 30 applicants. "It was the feeling of all of us that Brad stood out head and shoulders above the others because he clearly understood our mission," said the Rev. Monsignor Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general for the Diocese of Salt Lake City and a member of the CCS board. "Our mission is not to proselytize or to make people Catholic, but to serve all those in need in any way we can," Fitzgerald said. In addition to a good grasp of its mission, Drake brought something else to CCS: a lifetime of business experience capped by service in the nonprofit world. He has "the ability and skills to manage a complex agency in difficult times," Fitzgerald said. Drake, 61, came to the nonprofit world late in his career, but social work was always in the back of his mind. A North Ogden native, Drake graduated from what was then Weber State College with a bachelor's degree in business. His minor was in social work. He was a manufacturing representative for 30 years and also did leadership training for corporate executives for several years. He sold his business in 2001, but was not ready to retire. "I felt like I wanted to do more," Drake said. He ended up taking a job as the executive director of Your Community in Unity, a shelter and advocacy agency for victims of domestic violence in Brigham City. When CCS' former executive director, Maggie St. Claire, retired, Bob Hunter of Ogden, a member of the CCS board and executive director of the United Way of Northern Utah, pressed his friend to apply for the job. "I was resistant. I didn't want to do it." But he did apply. The rest is history, and historical. Drake is the first LDS member to lead CCS, which until the 1970s -- and even much of the time since then -- was headed by a Catholic priest, Fitzgerald said. "Thirty or 40 years ago, I would have said it will always be a priest," said Fitzgerald, himself a former CCS executive director. But just as the Vatican II Council of bishops opened up many church responsibilities to lay people and women religious, it gradually led to more of both in leadership of church social service agencies. Fitzgerald recalls the first break with tradition in the years after Vatican II. He persuaded a reluctant Bishop Joseph Federal to hire a woman who happened to be Presbyterian -- two strikes in the bishop's mind. "You know what? He loved her. She was marvelous." Fitzgerald said he has learned that it's not about "wearing a medal of St. Christopher." Drake, who has been married 37 years, has four children and seven grandchildren, shows a "tremendous commitment to the work of CCS," Fitzgerald said. "When you meet his wife and family, you find a family of deep faith who understand the tremendous value of everyone's belief." CCS employees come from a variety of backgrounds, and only about half are Catholic, Drake estimated. Many working in refugee resettlement, former refugees themselves, are Muslim. He makes a point of frequently visiting where clients are served -- in the substance abuse treatment centers, the refugee resettlement agency, the emergency service centers. He goes to the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank in Ogden once a week and often serves lunch to the homeless at the St. Vincent de Paul Center in Salt Lake City. "I'm not going to do anybody any good in a bubble here [in the office]," Drake said. "I need to be where everything happens." Fitzgerald says Drake is not intimidated by board members but collaborates with them as a colleague. "He listens, which is a great gift." Drake said that CCS, which has a $12 million budget, is doing fine financially this year. But he worries about 2010 because of the poor economy's effect on potential donors. CCS depends on donations, in one way or another, for 64 percent of its budget. "All of us in the nonprofit world are concerned." Fitzgerald said he's glad to have someone with experience meeting budgets at the helm of the church's social work in these times. The vicar general, essentially the chief operating officer for the diocese and Drake's immediate supervisor, has made one explicit directive, however. "I tell him, 'Don't get any ideas about going on a mission,'" said Fitzgerald, a friend of LDS President Thomas Monson. "He knows I would ... go to the top." kmoulton@sltrib.com   About Catholic Community Services » Operated by the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, CCS Utah is a nonprofit agency that serves those in need regardless of religious affiliation. It provides refugee resettlement, immigration services, emergency care to the homeless through the St. Vincent dePaul Resources Center and substance abuse treatment. » More information is available at www.ccsutah.org.