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Dr. Maria Elena Hallion Named Executive Director of Catholic Charities of South Jersey
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April 25, 2024Dr. Maria Elena Hallion Named Executive Director
of Catholic Charities of South Jersey
CAMDEN – Bishop Dennis Sullivan is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Dr. Maria Elena Hallion as the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of South Jersey.
“I am pleased to welcome Dr. Hallion, who comes to the Diocese of Camden with an impressive and diverse background having spent years working in the field of higher education and social service, to lead our Catholic Charities into a new era.”
Serving more than 28,000 people in the six southern counties of New Jersey, Catholic Charities assists those in need through its programs and partnerships with local parishes; faith-based and secular organizations; and local, state and federal agencies.
Assisting others is a common theme throughout Dr. Hallion’s professional career having served as the executive director of Branches Outreach in Rio Grande, NJ, which helps marginalized families and individuals in Cape May County receive access to food, clothing and social service resources. In this role, her tasks included overseeing the programming and services critical to the company’s mission, and fostering relationships with local organizations.
She also served as the interim Food Resources Director for the nonprofit Manna on Main Street in Lansdale, Pa., helping in its mission to end hunger by overseeing its “Grocers Against Hunger” program; organizing food drives; collaborating with local food banks, and supervising its College Student Basic Needs Program.
In higher education, Dr. Hallion spent 23 years at Cabrini University in Radnor, Pa., serving in various classroom and administrative capacities. She was the department chair of Health and Exercise Sciences, where she developed a course on the social determinants of childhood obesity, “Let’s Feed Kids Well,” and a regional conference series on “The Convergence of Childhood Obesity and Hunger.” She was assistant dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Allied Health, as well as a professor in exercise science and health promotion.
These experiences in mentoring, leadership and community engagement, she believes, were all markers on a path that led her to the Diocese of Camden. Not to mention her faith.
A lifelong Catholic, Dr. Hallion has served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and was a children faith formation teacher in her parish. “Having a dedicated prayer life, caring for others and seeing Christ in them, and now working here for Catholic Charities, is in sync with what I care about.”
She is also looking forward to enhancing “the visibility of Catholic Charities, to make sure that people know what we do, so they’ll think of us when they’re in need or when they’re wanting to support a good, giving, caring organization.”
Dr. Hallion received her undergraduate degree from West Chester University, her Master of Science Degree from East Stroudsburg University, and her Ph.D. in Health Education from Temple University. She resides in Gibbstown, New Jersey, with her husband and daughter and is a parishioner of Saint Clare of Assisi Parish.
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About Catholic Charities of South Jersey
Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Camden is a faith-based agency rooted in the Gospel and in the social teaching of the Catholic Church. We provide social services to, advocate for, and empower the poor, oppressed or vulnerable. We do this on a non-discriminatory, non-sectarian basis throughout the six southern New Jersey counties.
Providing Hope since 1936 – From our humble roots when we started as the Catholic Aid Society to today, our mission has not changed: to serve the poor and vulnerable and to do so with dignity and respect. Each year, we serve more than 28,000 people in the six counties of the Camden Diocese.
About the Diocese of Camden
The Diocese of Camden, under the leadership of Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D., eighth bishop of Camden, serves approximately 475,000 Catholics in 62 parishes in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties. The Diocese serves the South Jersey community through faith, education and social services.