By Jay Sorgi • Posted February 5, 2026

Many people dream of combining their work life with the values that matter the most to them.

Fran Swiacki has made that dream a reality for the last 41 years, a tenure that ends this week as he enters retirement from Catholic Charities of Philadelphia.

“I’ve been with the Church 41 years, and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Swiacki, the director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Services divisions of CCoP.

“Working for the Church gave me an opportunity to complement and merge my professional life with my faith life. I don’t think too many people get an opportunity to do that. I’ve grown from it spiritually, personally, professionally, and I didn’t plan it that way.”

The graduate of Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia and Villanova University grew up in the city’s Port Richmond section in a family with a father who “had a pretty good social conscience,” Swiacki said.

Both parents, he said, lived their life in a way that was true to their faith and values.

In 1984 Swiacki was a professional social worker with Children’s Aid Society of Pennsylvania when he began looking for another position and applied at then-Catholic Social Services for an executive administrator role.

That job eventually led to 28 years leading St. Francis Homes for Boys in Bensalem, a place where God taught him how to love when it was sometimes hard.

“It was often a challenge to see God’s face dealing with the adolescents because of the problems that they suffered from. It really challenged you to want to forgive them” for their behavior, he said.

“You really would have to dig into your faith and remind yourself that forgiveness is a core feature of the faith. To see God’s face in them, you had to be willing to forgive.”

Extending mercy isn’t easy for anyone to do because “after all, we’re all human,” Swiacki said. “I could see how that really solidified my faith and made me more faithful to the faith’s core values of love, forgiveness, and toleration.”

Those values came to light for Swiacki in profound and unexpected ways.

He recalls how one former resident of St. Francis came back to tell him, “Thank you. Thank you for giving me a chance. Thank you for putting up with my behaviors,” Swiacki said.

Another encounter with a staff member stopped Swiacki in his tracks and reminded him of Christ’s command to forgive and care for someone  perceived as different.

A staff colleague who was Muslim told Swiacki he wanted to apologize to him.

“I said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” Swiacki recalled. “He said, ‘No, my faith says when you wrong somebody, you’ve got to sit down with them face to face and ask for forgiveness. And I want to ask your forgiveness for having prejudged you.’

“I was just blown away by this experience and being the recipient of this genuine confession and (conversation). The staff aren’t your clients, but you’re also seeing the image of God in them. You’re trying to treat them the best you can, treat them as individuals with dignity.”

Nearly three decades of devotion to the young men at St. Francis Homes led to his latest role in helping people with IDD through The Communities of Don Guanella and Divine Providence and St. Edmond’s Home for Children.

“I fell in love with the ministry,” Swiacki said. “These individuals (are) truly beautiful people. They provide unconditional love. You’re just drawn to them. They just produce empathy in you. They’re so innocent. I consistently saw God’s face in them.”

Swiacki said he plans to find part-time work during retirement as he cares for a loved one battling medical issues. He also aims to travel to China with friends from across the United States.

Swiacki has seen profound growth in his own life thanks to decades serving people in need who represent the face of God.

“I credit this all to being with the Church and encouraging me, making me part of the family, I think bringing out the best in me,” he said.

“God is everywhere. I wouldn’t have thought that” before working for Catholic Charities, Swiacki said, adding that he first began working for the Church “purely from a professional, secular point of view, looking for a good job. The Church had a good reputation in the social-work field.

“But then I discovered God to be everywhere in the people you met, in the people you worked for, the clients you served.”