According to statistics, the average American worker stays with an employer for 3.9 years.
No one has shared that news with Sylvia C. Loumeau, Catholic Charities of South Jersey’s director of Clinical and Social Work, who has been providing care and support to individuals and families for nearly 10 times as long.
Attempting to select a few highlights from her career, Loumeau replied, “I would have an easier time telling you the ways in which the clients have made my life better. All I can say is that I attempt to listen to people with all my heart when they confide in me, attempt to offer a safe place for people to share, and offer hope.”
Faith, she said, is what has given her the strength, compassion and fortitude to continue such service for 37 years – and counting.
“Working at Catholic Charities has helped me to understand my faith in a way I am not sure I would have if I worked elsewhere,” said Loumeau, a parishioner of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Collingswood. “It is not that my faith informed my work, but my work has informed my faith.
“I have learned so much from the people who come into the agency for assistance, and they have helped me in ways they will never know. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve them in whatever way I can.”
Loumeau was one of three children born to her hard-working immigrant parents from France, whose sacrifices inspired her own work ethic. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and social work from Immaculata University in 1987, a Master of Social Work from the Rutgers University School of Social Work, Camden, in 1991, and a post-master’s certificate at the Family Institute of New Jersey in Metuchen (now the Multicultural Family Institute in Somerset). Her decision to join what was then known as Catholic Social Services was unplanned, yet fortuitous.
“I didn’t know much about the agency at the time, but once I was here, I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else,” Loumeau said. “The longer I stayed, the more I felt I needed to stay. I had supervisors who changed my life, and who helped me learn about my faith in ways I never understood before.”
She began her career at Catholic Charities in the Adoptions Department as a counselor to pregnant women, their partners and parents. “Some of those women chose adoption, and I would assist them in selecting the right adoptive family, facilitate meetings with those families, help the birth parents sign the papers to relinquish their parental rights, and then be available to support them through the very long grieving process.”
She continued, “Other couples chose to raise their children, and I connected them with the social services programs available to assist with income, insurance, parenting and more.”
The Catholic social services agency continues to offer counsel and connections to social services for pregnant women, including resources to help adoptees seek out their birth families.
“Helping to reunite a birth parent with the child she placed for adoption is one of the most fulfilling parts of my responsibilities, and I always feel truly blessed to be a part of it,” Loumeau said. “I am able to offer counseling to them and, in some instances, make their dream of being able to hold that child again, come true.”
Loumeau works in Catholic Charities’ Family and Community Center on Haddon Avenue in Camden, where visitors request a wide variety of donations and services. Workers utilize linkages to other services, agencies and public grants, allowing them to assist with rent, utility payments and security deposits.
“Sometimes, our [centers] are a place of respite for people who are homeless and may need a bowl of soup or place to warm up for a little bit,” she said. “Whenever someone is in need of something, they are welcomed into our Family Center, and someone will listen, and offer a compassionate response and some direction.”
Loumeau also oversees Rachel Ministries, the Diocese of Camden’s post-abortion healing ministry, and Addictions Healing services. For many years, she was in charge of Supportive Assistance to Individuals and Families, which assists long-term recipients of public benefits, and she was also director of Clinical Services, overseeing Catholic Charities counseling program, which closed in 2022.
As a director, Loumeau has supervised more than 60 staff members, students and volunteers throughout her career, all of whom she prays are inspired to see the strengths of their clients. “I hope that I have been able to offer a sliver of what was offered to me by my supervisors to those that I supervise.”
She continued, “I share whatever knowledge I have with clients and staff, and then leave it to them to use it, hopefully for good. It is my hope that I am able to convey to my staff the need for compassion, to help remove judgment about [clients], and to help people to build on the innate qualities that God has given them so they can see the innate qualities of the people they are serving.”
“As a young person, I used to imagine mine would be a household name and that I would be recognized publicly for all my good works,” the social worker admitted. “Now, I know that most people won’t remember my name, but I hope they will know that someone cared enough about them to listen.”
Dr. Maria Elena Hallion, CCSJ executive director, expressed her gratitude for Loumeau’s agency history, dedication to the mission and leadership.
“Sylvia is always focused on bringing hope and care to everyone we encounter and is truly an indescribable asset to Catholic Charities of South Jersey,” she said. “She is consistently thinking of new ways we can fulfill our mission.”
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