Is the Church doing enough for the poor?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WilT
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
zab said:
I don’t think anyone suggested that ALL of the of the homeless should be "considered drug dealers, alchoholics, or loners of some sort. What some of us are disagreeing with is your comment in your first post,* "… I have found that the Church is doing very little to not only care for them but to promote independence. " *, which is contradictory to what you wrote here.
Click to expand...
I have worked for the poor and have eaten with them so I consider myself well prepared in what I say. I experience it regularly. Have you zab helped with the poor and if so how long? Have you sat down to talk to them zab? If so how much time do you spend with them? I suspect it’s close to none.
 
WilT said:
I have read your earlier quote zab and I know we will not agree only because I feel you lack the charity needed to understand the plight of the poor.
Click to expand...
WOW! You can judge another’s heart and intent by am internet post?
 
WilT said:
I have worked for the poor and have eaten with them so I consider myself well prepared in what I say. I experience it regularly. Have you zab helped with the poor and if so how long? Have you sat down to talk to them zab? If so how much time do you spend with them? I suspect it’s close to none.
Click to expand...
This is waaaay out of line and you have absolutely no way of knowing what others do for the poor. I find your moral high ground somewhat lacking in charity.
 
WilT said:
I have worked for the poor and have eaten with them so I consider myself well prepared in what I say. I experience it regularly. Have you zab helped with the poor and if so how long? Have you sat down to talk to them zab? If so how much time do you spend with them? I suspect it’s close to none.
Click to expand...
Should I ask how much of your income that you donate to help the poor? People help in different ways. We have always given a considerable amount monetarily. In the past I have been involved with other ministries. I have raised 10 children. And at times we have had to help our own children who were in need. I know what it is like to be poor. I was one of 12 children in a poor family. When I was small, my mother spent some time in a mental hospital for depression. My dad worked hard and we did benefit from government commodities- which at the time was powdered milk and canned food. Yuk! And there was a time when my husband retired from the Navy and we still had many children at home, and he had not yet found other work, when our pantry was bare. We were blessed that we never had to ask for food or money because - it just showed up when we needed it most. My son helps with our parish’s meal program and he sits and mingles with the people who come to eat. And my son has his own ideas about how things should be done because he hears what some of them are saying. “They gather in the kitchen to pray and we are sitting out here, then they come out here and say another prayer…They eat over there and we eat over here. It is them and us” My son says they (the ministry members) sort of pat themselves on the back and it makes them feel good that they are helping the poor, but they are not sitting and talking with them to hear what they say." I listen to my son and he has some good points that should be heard, but I think that he needs to realize that the cooks need to be in the kitchen, too. We should not be criticizing others because they are not doing what we do.
 
Thanks for your comment and that of your son. I find myself on the frontline with the poor so it is with that experience I speak with.
 
Tigg, I find your moral high ground somewhat lacking in charity.
Did you read zab’s past comments? If you agree with it then there will be no agreement between you and I.:D. Thanks again zab for your most recent comment.
 
I know in my area the Catholic Church has a very good reputation for helping the needy so generalizing might not be the way to go. Having a St. Vincent de Paul Society and actively seeking donations is a very good way to promote helping the poor and getting to work in a one on one environment helps your spiritual life also. There is always room for improvement but we have to remember that the economy affects everyone.
 
marylauravicuna said:
The homelessness problem is connected to dysfunctional families, fatherlessness, prison records, narcissism, and depression due to lack of affirmation. Have you every read Father and Child Reunion by Dr. Warren Farrell? So many people are born into unhealthy single mother families or foster care and they are never properly raised. Many are abused as children. With political correctness and low salaries, government therapists (funded by Medi-Cal) are largely useless so it is difficult for a person who is not well off to become psychologically healthy after being born into a dysfunctional family. The homeless often have prison records, sometimes they commit crimes just because prison seems a better alternative than their current life. As a result, they find it difficult to get jobs, and remain poor.

How is it possible to solve this problem when the majority of our society has started to see single mothers as heroes rather than as tragic victims who are severely psychologically dysfunctional? Or most therapists are dysfunctional themselves? :confused:
Click to expand...
I agree to that a lot of homeless come from some kind of dysfunction of sort whether theirs or the family and might I ad the society as a whole. They are also many who didn’t have a choice on this dysfunction. So they can be true victims or innocent.
 
WilT said:
Chatter163, I come across homeless under bridges, sitting in their cars and in parks, in the libraries and many other locations. The homeless need more than handouts. They need a place where to lay their heads and to rest if ill. Have you ever been sick and needed to stay in bed and rest? Well, if they are lucky to stay in a armory or homeless park they must vacate it by early morning. Most facilities request that. Now, were do they go afterwards to heal themselves? You and I can just stay home and rest in a quiet warm place in our beds they can’t.
I see the local police stopping them if they stay in one place too long. They get thrown out of certain communities that promote ‘neighborhood watch’.
Continuing on, giving them one or two nights doesn’t help them too much. They need long term help. **May I suggest a community of small 1 br. shack or buildings with 6 months agreements that can be renewed. ** Sleeping in the rain on wet concrete is not a comfortable place to lay ones head ‘And their was no place for them in the Inn’. We have many well intended Catholics but yet we need not look away from the homeless’ many needs.
Click to expand...
A small 1 bedroom shack? Why not a two star hotel? or more…
 
WilT said:
Even better 👍 but I like to start off simply and doable. If it gets larger all power to It!
Click to expand...
How costly would it be to build a lot of one bedroom shacks and how many would you have to build? and what about the sanitation around such a place? If you are going to start building at all, you might as well do it right. Our parish has sponsored the building of two shelters- a men’s shelter that is maintained by Catholic Community Services, and a women’s shelter (with children) run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. And both places have a 6 month term with possible renewal. I am not sure about the rules regarding the women’s shelter, but the men have to leave during the day and are supposed to be looking for work, trying to get back on their feet again. They give them references of where to get the help they need.

P.S. Oh, and our shelters are quite nice. I’d give it a 4 star
 
:extrahappy: That’s great news. In my county I hear and see very little being done for the homeless community. The salt in my Diocese has lost some of it’s taste. Great news though.
 
WilT said:
:extrahappy: That’s great news. In my county I hear and see very little being done for the homeless community. The salt in my Diocese has lost some of it’s taste. Great news though.
Click to expand...
It takes a lot of people working together to get things done. Everyone is busy with their own concerns and duties and missions. What good does it do to blame the county or the diocese? They need the support of the community in order to pay for and maintain shelters. It takes people like yourself with the interest and drive to do what needs to be done to rally up support of others with various gifts and tallents. You also will have to deal with people who will be afraid of having a shelter in their neighborhood. They are afraid of what kind of people will be living there.
 
I’m never at the right place and always at the wrong time. Even though I know the needs I have written to my Diocese on some occasions and I never hear back from them. I don’t know what, if anything, they do with the messages. At this time I’m not in a position to follow up closely on my calls because of other serious obligations at this time. I pray and ask God to provide the right people at the right time to better help the poor and the homeless. The Holy Father Pope Francis would like for us in the U.S. to focus on more pastoral needs of the people and not focus too much on the dividing issues. Pax.
 
WilT said:
The Holy Father Pope Francis would like for us in the U.S. to focus on more pastoral needs of the people and not focus too much on the dividing issues. Pax.
Click to expand...
Pope Francis has spoken quite often on pro life issues such as marriage and abortion as well as the poor. It’s a big Church that can minister and attend to all the issues that are harmful to society. Fighting evil and reminding us that sin is deadly is also pastoral and just as important. One of the Church’s mission is to save souls. Souls have to be fed as well as mouths.
 
The Church cannot minister to all needs equally, that is why Our Holy Father is asking our Catholic Bishops to not forget or diminish other areas of our ministries.🙂
 
“I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

― Benjamin Franklin
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top