For Chas Canfield, working at Catholic Charities is more than just a job; it’s a calling.

As the operations manager at the 48th Avenue women’s shelter, he is responsible for ensuring the shelter runs smoothly, securely and efficiently. But beyond logistics, his work is rooted in a deeper mission: maintaining the dignity of every woman who walks through the shelter’s doors.

“We focus on maintaining the dignity of everyone that stays in here,” Canfield said. “We try to make sure that we treat them all as God’s children while living at our mission statement, which is extending the healing hands of Jesus to those in need.”

Canfield’s dedication to his ministry is fueled by his Catholic faith. He draws inspiration from Scripture, particularly Matthew 25 and Galatians 2:20, which reinforce his belief that serving others is ultimately serving Christ and show him that he, too, is in need of God’s mercy and assistance.

“I know that I am also poor, and that I also have people that are willing to love and to support me. I know that God can love and support me through others, and I desire to share that same love that others show me with other people,” he said.

While working at the shelter can be challenging, Canfield finds fulfillment in simply being present with the women he serves.

“The best part of the job is to get to serve people. Whenever I get to spend time on the floor and have conversations with participants, whether they’re upset about some other one of their neighbors or whatever it is, just getting to spend time with them and, in a sense, almost ‘waste time’ with them is one of my biggest motivations and things that fills my heart,” he shared. “It’s the place where I can just be with them, and I get to see them for who they are, and they get to see me for who I am.”

Through his experiences at Catholic Charities and Christ in the City, a ministry in which missionaries commit two years to accompanying the homeless of Denver, Canfield has come to see the people he serves not as “the other” but as brothers and sisters in Christ, striving to know, love and serve them as a friendly and compassionate presence.

“We are all children of God. God has blessed us abundantly by giving us existence to be his,” he said. “Oftentimes, my own struggles that I’ve been able to witness recently have allowed me to see some of the struggles our participants go through. And I began to see now that, wow, these people go through the same struggles I do. I just am getting to hide that when I go home.”

Canfield acknowledges that it’s not his role to save anyone — only God can do that. His job is to create space for God’s love to work.

“I realized it’s ultimately not my job to save them. I would try to save them in the ways that I think they need to be saved,” he said. “Ultimately, my job is to extend God’s love in that space and give God the space to save them in his ways, while he’s also saving me, because I also need to be saved every single day.”

A particularly profound moment for Canfield came during his time with Christ in the City when he carried a homeless man several blocks in freezing temperatures. As the man expressed his feelings of being lost, Canfield realized he was asking himself the same questions about his own life.

“He said, ‘Chas, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. What am I supposed to do?’” Canfield recalled. “This grown man was asking me for advice. I began to cry because I was like, ‘I’m asking myself that same question every single day.’

“I’m like, ‘Wow, we’re not much different. This is a person.’ We just really have to notice that,” he added.

Despite the weight of the work, Canfield finds joy and hope in small, simple moments, like a karaoke night for the women at the shelter.

“They didn’t have to think about that immediate struggle and their immediate problems. They could just exist and just be for a little bit and just have joy and happiness,” he said.

Canfield has also learned the power of small gestures.

“Handing out a coloring sheet sometimes can save us from having to call 911,” he said, chuckling at how radical that might sound. “Or giving someone an extra meal could maybe save their life that day. It’s crazy to think how small some things can be in a sense, but what kind of impact it can have.”

For Canfield, staying grounded in prayer is essential, even when it feels difficult.

“There’s a lot of times I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to because it’s hard to take that time to really turn towards him,” he admitted. “But it’s really not. It’s me making my life as busy as I can so I don’t have to actually think about the hard things, which is just covering up problems.”

Recognizing that one cannot give what one does not have, Canfield strives to start each day in relationship with God, who loves him — and each of us — more than he can imagine. In so doing, he’s able to extend a compassionate hand to those he meets each day.

“I know that I need to start my day out with the Lord. I need to start with him and being in his presence and allowing him to bless me and to acknowledge our relationship of me being his son and knowing that he died for me and that he constantly is giving me life,” he explained.

Ultimately, it is Canfield’s faith and his love for those he serves that keep him going. In prayer, he has encountered his own poverty, his own need for God. From that place of reliance on the Lord, he is able to walk with the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40) and extend Christ’s love to those who need it most.

In recognition of his humble service, Chas have been recognized as this month’s Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal Disciple of the Month. His love for his neighbors serves as an inspiring testament to Christ’s own love for his people.

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Do you know someone who is an exceptional steward? Nominate them here, and they could become the next Disciple of the Month!

Congratulations, Chas, for being named the Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal Disciple of the Month! 

Do you know someone who is an exceptional steward? Nominate them here, and they could become the next Disciple of the Month!

The Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal supports a wide range of ministries that are sharing the Gospel every day.