 More than 1,400 agencies, institutions, and organizations make up the Catholic Charities network, which provides services to nearly 10 million people in need each year regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds.The network also seeks to advocate for issues of importance to those in need.Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago began in 1917, when a group of Catholic businessmen petitioned Cardinal Mundelein to create a Catholic charity to centralize resources in order to relieve the burden of Catholic parishes that were struggling to meet the needs of the poor in their communities.