On November 12, 2026, Catholic Charities of New York hosted 26 volunteers from the Order of Malta of the New York City Area for a service project at our South Bronx Hub and Washington Heights offices. Members of the lay religious order, known as Knights and Dames, packaged food bundles, some of which traveled down to the Cardinal Spellman Center in the East Village, and ran food distributions at both locations.
The morning began at the South Bronx Hub with opening prayers and remarks. Addressing the group, Tom Dobbins, Catholic Charities of New York’s Deputy Director of Public & Community Engagement, invoked Matthew 25, a Bible verse that outlines the acts that aid human dignity in the Catholic tradition:
“37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Dobbins pointed out that this chapter, a foundational passage for the Order of Malta, is used in Catholic Charities of New York’s employee orientation.
“The acts described in Matthew 25 also give us the indicators of how succesful our work is. We know we’re doing our jobs well when the hungry are fed, the stranger is welcomed, the naked are clothed,” said Dobbins.
After the welcome, a crew of volunteers headed to the Washington Heights offices, where they readied ingredients before distributing food bundles to hundreds of neighbors. The rest stayed in the South Bronx, sorting ingredients in the warehouse before serving community neighbors at the street-level food pantry.
All told, they served 450 neighbors in need throughout the day, providing each with enough nutritious ingredients to prepare several meals, and also passed out flyers with information on how to connect with our staff to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
The Order of Malta was founded in the second half of the 11th Century, with the Hospitallers of St. John in the Holy Land establishing a church, convent, and hospital in Jerusalem, then part of the Egyptian Empire. Pope Paschal II recognized the order and placed it under the Church’s protection in 1113.
“I was honored to serve alongside the Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta today in our Bronx food warehouse and pantry,” said Catholic Charities of New York’s CEO J. Antonio Fernández. “For a millennium, they have served as an example for how Catholics should serve people in need. Today, by feeding hundreds of our community members, they keep that tradition alive.”
Today, the Order of Malta is active in 130 countries across all six inhabited continents. There are 13,500 members (the Knights and Dames), 110,000 permanent volunteers, and a qualified staff of 60,000, including medical personnel and paramedics.
“I am excited to be here with Antonio, Andrea [Jordan, Chief Program Officer], and the whole team at Catholic Charities,” said Eric Vitale, New York Area Chair for the Order of Malta. “The work of Catholic Charities and the work of the Order of Malta are the same work. We follow the same path, we get to it in different ways, and today, we get to it together by being in service to those who need our help.”
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