Would Jesus prefer evangelization over a hospital?

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Hypothetical question: imagine you would have a 100 million dollars. There are two options to spend it all on.
A) a hospital that would be able to physicaly as well as mentaly heal the poor; or
B) a center to which people could come to get trained to try to evangelize the world.

What do you think Jesus would prefer?
 
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Well if you’ll pardon my opinion, I think that hypothetical is pretty stale.

You can ‘only’ spend 100 million on one of two things? Seriously?

And of course one can ONLY be on a ‘physical’ help and the other ONLY a spiritual?

Catholicism is not an ‘either-or’ religion. It is a both-and.

We use our resources (money included) wisely.

There is no possible reason why money cannot be spent on a facility which works to heal and help with both spiritual (evangelization) AND physical (hospital) resources.

Trying to claim (and it’s only a claim, or opinion, never an actual truth) that Jesus would favor one method over another, especially one backed with ‘$100 million’ behind it is ludicrous.

Now if you want to ask, how can ‘I’ or ‘you’ or ‘others’ best help Jesus in His mission, that’s a really GOOD question (although I doubt any of us has $100 million). Some of us are fitted to help Him MORE at a given time through physical means, some through spiritual, but most through BOTH.

So maybe a person A can afford a few dollars a month to charity, spend a Saturday a month at a local soup kitchen, spend a weekday every other week to help out with religious education, say a family rosary with kids at home. A MIX of the above.

Maybe person B can afford a couple of hundred dollars a month to charity because he or she has a high paying job but the job itself keeps the person from going regularly to help out; but they also do family rosary. Still a mix, a little more $$, a little less physical presence, still spirituality.

Maybe person C is old and on a fixed income, but still physically hale. That person can go stand and pray at the local abortion center daily, go to daily Mass, help out through lots of time and prayer and presence, but has almost no money for charity.

Maybe person D is old, on a fixed income, and essentially bed or wheelchair bound. That person might ‘only’ be able to pray from his or her bed or chair. . . nobody might even be able to know or hear or see those prayers, but they are still just as helpful as anything from persons A, B, and C, etc.

I think it’s sad and silly to divide the world even more by getting people arguing over which response to WWJD be ‘better’, because money isn’t ‘better’ than prayer (nor is it ‘worse’) and hospitals aren’t better than evangelization (nor are they worse).

We don’t want to present a Christian as somebody forced to choose ‘the best’ and ignore the fact that for any given individual, ‘the best’ he or she is called to do might be different from some other individual, yet equally welcome.
 
I would have to ask the question that if a person or organization built a hospital, would the current government allow them to NEVER do abortions in that facility, or would they build and then be arm twisted to provide this ‘health service’ to women?
 
Are you aware that when St Padre Pio was alive, he got a hospital built for the relief of suffering?
Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (English: "Home for Relief of Suffering ") is a private scientific research hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, founded by Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, and administered by Vatican City.
 
A hospital is evangelization.

Give James chapter 2 a read.
 
  1. Why not both?
  2. Christ told us the parable of the sheep and the goats. Come ye blessed of My Father…for I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was sick and you visited me.
  3. As @Mrchatsworth points out that is how hospitals got started.
 
That’s one expensive evangelization center! What kind of salaries would you be paying out there?
 
Thank you stpurl. “Now if you want to ask, how can ‘I’ or ‘you’ or ‘others’ best help Jesus in His mission, that’s a really GOOD question (although I doubt any of us has $100 million). Some of us are fitted to help Him MORE at a given time through physical means, some through spiritual, but most through BOTH.” That was actually my question. I didn’t want to divide the world unnecessarily into two camps. It’s rather the case that I’m doubting between getting a degree in health or one in theology. In hindsight, I don’t believe the dilemma I initially wrote down was really helpful.
Your answer is the one everyone has given me so far, and it’s probably true. The thing is just this: How is it any good to help someone with a broken leg, this life is like a vapor in eternity. This thought leads me to conclude that saving souls would be far more important. Please note: I know I’m alone in this, and I don’t even believe Jesus himself taught this. It just seems so rationally true to me.
I feel like I’m getting closer to an answer, however. Therefore thanks & bless you.
 
Refer once again to the passage in James where Scripture does address this. Look across the world and through history, the Church sends missionaries, they build clinics, schools, hospitals even before they build a church building. Scripture guides this.

Not enough space to post the entire section, but, the language is stern!


What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?

So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.

You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.

Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?
 
Well, when you consulted with others needed to go forward with either project and then you all prayed, how did it seem?

The Holy Spirit is real, not hypothetical. The support anyone needs to make either proposed project work is real, not hypothetical. Maybe neither will happen. Maybe with the money as the seed, both will.

It is important for the person with the wealth to get their ego out of the way and open themselves up to God and others before barging in with “I have the millions, I’ll be deciding what God wants here.”
 
SFG said:
Hypothetical question: imagine you would have a 100 million dollars. There are two options to spend it all on.
A) a hospital that would be able to physicaly as well as mentaly heal the poor; or
B) a center to which people could come to get trained to try to evangelize the world.

What do you think Jesus would prefer?
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I think asking this question completely misses the point. What did Jesus tell the disciples to do throughout his ministry? Go and proclaim the gospel. How many parables did Jesus provide about sewing the Word? Conversely, how many times did Jesus tell us to love our neighbor? When Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons, did he not also proclaim the advent of the kingdom of heaven and forgiveness of sins? The healings testified to the coming of the kingdom of heaven confirming what Christ was already preaching about himself. Jesus didn’t divorce these two things, neither should we. Jesus never intended for an either/or ministry of the Church. We are to BOTH sew the gospel through the proclamation of the word and ministry of the sacraments, and to love our neighbor.

If you build a hospital, you better be proclaiming the love of Christ. When we proclaim the gospel, we better do it in the context of obeying Christ’s command to love our neighbor.

One last thought though. Any atheist or agnostic can run a hospital. Only the Church can proclaim Christ. If push comes to shove, the primary mission of the Church is always to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that Christ has command us. If we don’t do it, no one else will.
 
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I would say the hospital. Jesus talked repeatedly about the importance of helping people in practical ways.

I would add that not a few people would say, “These Catholics had $100 million which they could have spent on evangelizing like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but instead they spent it on a hospital that benefits everyone, irrespective of their faith. The Catholic Church must have a great faith, and I intend to find out more about it.”
 
I think historically healing of the soul has been the mission of the Church over the healing of the body.
 
It is hard to heal people’s souls if they die before you can evangelize them .

St. Jerome famously ran a Bible study with a bunch of rich and clever Christian widows and their daughters. And then there was Fabiola, who was rich but not very clever, who never came up with good questions.

And then Fabiola invented, and founded, and ran with her money, the first known Christian charity hospital, taking all comers and working there herself. At first Jerome listened to his aristocratic background and thought it was embarrassing, but then he realized that Fabiola was the one of his students who had understood the Bible best. He wrote a great letter about it, and you know how rare it was for St. Jerome to admit having been wrong!

And that’s St. Fabiola, btw…
 
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But the proper answer is that Jesus would prefer that each of us do good in whatever ways which we choose or find, which fit our gifts and talents, and/or which answer the needs presented to us. If everyone did the same thing, most needs would go unmet. It is not a competition. Not everyone is a mouth or legs, and not everyone is a healing hand. We all have different callings and tasks.
 
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