With more Americans facing that harsh reality during these harsh times, a number of Catholic parishes are stepping in with help.

A glimpse, from Catholic News Service:

The impact of the wave of layoffs in firms, factories, financial companies and the automotive industry can be felt in parish halls or church basements across the country on any given weeknight.

That’s where many of the newly unemployed go for practical and sometimes spiritual advice.

Just outside Detroit, at St. Andrew Parish in Rochester, a job support group began last year with about 20 participants. Now, at least 80 people attend the twice-monthly meetings, according to Betty Dobies, chair of St. Andrew’s Career Mentoring Ministry, which has a partnership with 13 church groups in the Detroit area.

“We started out thinking we’d review resumes and interview techniques, but we found that the main thing people really need is support,” Dobies said.

During the sessions, parish volunteers, including career advisers, licensed counselors and human resource specialists, are paired with job seekers. Guest speakers also give tips on updating resumes and on networking.

Dobies, a St. Andrew parishioner and retired sales manager who worked at Xerox and AT&T, said that for many people attending these sessions this is their first experience with unemployment. It might also be the first time for them to be looking for a job since they were initially hired.

“What they don’t know is that the job market has changed so much,” she told Catholic News Service in a Nov. 12 telephone interview. She noted that landing a job is often based more on networking than anything else. “Resumes are not enough,” she stressed.

“A lot of people have no idea what to do,” she said of those who have lost their jobs after decades with the same company.

There’s much more at the link.

Meantime, CNS also reports that there are new calls for extending unemployment benefits:

The staggering economy has delivered a strong blow to the country’s poor faced with rising utility, energy, food and housing costs, said Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA.

In a letter this fall to House and Senate leaders, he asked members of Congress to “remember the low- and middle-income Americans whose lives and economic security are being shattered by the current economic crisis.”

He specifically called on them to extend unemployment benefits and to increase food stamp benefits and social service assistance.

And of course, now more than ever, we should never lose our faith in prayer, or our trust in St. Joseph, patron of workers.