Fr. Snyder, head of Catholic Charities USA, to step down in 2015Read Time 1 min

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Fr. Larry Snyder, the president of Catholic Charities USA since 2005, will leave the post in February for a position at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.Fr. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, is pictured June 17 at a Rome conference on impact investing. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

In a letter from Fr. Snyder posted on the organization’s website July 1, he said it was with mixed feelings that he was announcing the transition, after 23 years working in the Catholic Charities network.

Starting Feb. 1, he will be vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas, located in his home Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He noted that he started his career in education as a teacher in Catholic high schools and would be coming full circle with a return to education in the university setting. He was ordained for the archdiocese in 1988. Before entering the seminary, he taught high school there for eight years.

Fr. Snyder’s letter said that his friends and colleagues in the Catholic Charities network have become his family.

“I have lived and breathed the mission of Catholic Charities and will always be committed to the work of charity and justice that it so passionately embodies,” he wrote. “I have been privileged to make a contribution and represent this incredible network on the national level. That work will go on, reducing poverty one life at a time.”

A press release from the organization said the Catholic Charities board of trustees has launched a national search for a new president.

“At this exciting time when Pope Francis is calling the church to a renewed sense of mission,” said Fr. Snyder, “I am energized to be at this nexus and see endless possibility.”

“Catholic Charities has been my heart and soul for 25 years,” said Fr. Snyder’s statement in the press release, “and I have been blessed and honored to work with so many incredible people and to be part of this mission.”

Fr. Snyder became head of Catholic Charities the same year Hurricane Katrina hit the southern United States, devastating New Orleans and other coastal communities. The organization leaped into emergency response and recovery efforts, becoming one of the leading providers of disaster relief services.