“I can't,” she told Connie Haggerty the social worker who donated a few nights a week to the shelter. “Father Xavier should do it.” They were sitting in the director's office—which was empty because so far the shelter hadn't found a director who would work for free—and drinking instant coffee with powdered creamer. Connie Haggerty studied Rose for a moment. “What do you think of this place?” she asked. “You think it's doing a good job?”

Rose had been pondering that question for weeks, and she unloaded with passion. “We're putting Band-Aids on cancer. We give a woman and her children a roof for sixty days and we try to funnel them into city housing. Most of them will be back in a place like this within a year, because we didn't deal with the problems that landed them here in the first place. We should be offering job training, counseling, therapy, GED classes, language skills, treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism, day care for mothers who have gotten back on their feet…” She slowed down the litany. “And all of that costs. And most of the money for this place comes from me. And I'm a few million short of being able to provide all that. We need outside help.”

“Say it just like that and you'll have the Starling people eating out of the palm of your hand,” said Connie.

“But Father Xavier is much more knowledgeable—”

“Have you ever sat through one of his speeches? I never knew there were that many quotes from St. Francis. Besides, you'll photograph better than he will.”

And so Rose gave her speech to the Starling Enterprise and walked out with one of the biggest checks the organization had ever given the Catholic Church. The archdiocese set up speaking engagements for Rose with three other foundations—by now she was speaking on behalf of the church's charities throughout the city. She brought home the bacon each time. The archdiocese asked her to become the director of the shelter because they wanted her to have a title when she spoke in public. They never expected her to actually take charge, but it turned out that she had a gift for administration. Connie Haggerty was hired full-time and the shelter began offering a variety of new services.