Scottish Catholic Observer

SCIAF’s chief executive Paul Chitnis has left the charity after 15 years at its helm.

Mr Chitnis left last Friday, announcing news of his departure to Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund staff and volunteers on the day.

Mr Chitnis told his colleagues in an e-mail that he understood his departure would be ‘a bit of a shock’ but that it was ‘time for him to move on.’ “I hate goodbyes, always have and probably always will,” he wrote. “I’d rather leave quietly and quickly without any fuss.”

Moving on

Mr Chitnis said that being the chief executive of SCIAF has been ‘the single greatest privilege’ of his ‘professional life.’ He also thanked the charity’s team for giving him the chance to work with ‘some of the most talented and dedicated people I have met in my 30 years in the voluntary sector.’

“I leave SCIAF a stronger, more focused and purposeful organisation than when I started,” he said.

“We have a terrific strategic framework which sets some challenging but exciting directions for the future.

“Our finances are robust and will help us weather the recession.”

After leaving the charity, Mr Chitnis said he planned to rededicate ‘myself to being a husband and father.’

“I am acutely aware that there is a cost to having a role like mine and my wife and children have sometimes had to bear it. So the summer months afford me with an opportunity to put them first. Then I will return to service in some form.”

Mr Chitnis closed by telling SCIAF’s staff that he would ‘pray for you all that God may continue to be present in this wonderfully privileged apostolate which we know as SCIAF.’

Reaction

Cardinal Keith O’Brien paid tribute to the departing SCIAF boss this week.

“I thank Paul for his many years of dedicated service to SCIAF and wish him every success for the future,” the cardinal said. “One of my greatest joys as a director of SCIAF has been travelling with Paul to visit SCIAF projects around the world. This has opened my mind to all that has been accomplished for the world’s poorest on behalf of the people of Scotland.”

SCIAF’s board of directors, which includes several members of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, released a statement after his departure thanking ‘Mr Chitnis for his long service to the charity.’

“After more than 15 years with SCIAF, Paul Chitnis has decided to leave his post from June 10 to pursue other interests,” the statement said.

During his years at the helm, SCIAF has attracted steadily increasing funds from donors and from grant-giving bodies. SCIAF’s outreach to the people of developing countries has expanded hugely, and its profile on the international stage is widely recognised and respected.

“To this, Paul’s personal integrity, his energy and hard work and his total commitment to SCIAF’s purposes have contributed in no small measure, and for this the board would like to record our thanks to him,” the statement continues.

“We wish Paul and his family every success for the future.An announcement about the recruitment process will follow in due course.”

SCIAF the charity expanded considerably and now has an annual turnover of several million pounds a year.

In recent years it has increasingly become an advocay group, campaigning on issues such as child poverty and climate change.

Vatican

The resignation comes as the Vatican is attempting to put Catholic charities more firmly under the guidance of bishops.

At the end of last month Pope Benedict XVI told a conference to mark 125th anniversary of Caritas Internationalis, the international federation of Catholic charities, to which SCIAF belongs, that they must be guided in their work by bishops and the social teaching of the Church.

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