Living Catholicism: Who to Join in Helping the Poor: St. Vincent de Paul Society, Catholic Worker Movement, ... Priests for Life?

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September 30, 2007

Who to Join in Helping the Poor: St. Vincent de Paul Society, Catholic Worker Movement, ... Priests for Life?

Ministering to the poor is something that comes natural to Catholic Christians as we strive for greater union with Christ and love for our neighbor. One thing to keep in mind if we have entered the marriage vocation, is that we cannot sacrifice our family in order to work for the poor. However, as a family gets more established more free time becomes available to spend helping one's neighbor. If possible, do some volunteering as a family. This helps unify the family and parents set a great example for their children.

There are many types of poverty to address - lack of morality/spirituality, loneliness, lack of education, and lack of material need, just to name a few. Pray and decide which kind of poverty you are feeling called to minister to. The most common type of poverty when people think of the word "poverty" is the lack of material need. There are many Catholic and non-Catholic organizations one can get involved with to minister to the materially poor. But Catholics need to do some research before getting involved with these organizations because they can have very different philosophies on how to help the poor.

The main question these philosophies boil down to is: "What is their view of life?" Is it a burden or is it a gift from God? Secular organizations that help the materially poor often see life as a burden, since many of them deem anti-life measures such as abortion and sterilization to be good weapons in the war against poverty. Sadly, some Catholic organizations implicitly agree with this view on life by their deliberate silence on topics such as these. To me it seems like a Catholic organization cannot exclude the right to life in its work to help the poor. Who is poorer than the person without the right to live?

To my knowledge, the only Catholic group to successfully synthesize aiding the materially poor and the right to life is the Missionaries of Charity order of nuns started by Mother Teresa. If anyone reading this knows of any other group, I would like to know. The other Catholic groups that help the poor have been so silent in defending these poor that groups that focus solely on the abortion issue have had to be established. Sadly, they are often branded as "narrow minded" and "single issue" groups that ignore the needs of the materially poor outside of the womb.

So find out about the organization you choose to volunteer with, and if you find yourself in a situation hostile to the Gospel of the fullness Life, be not afraid to evangelize!

Pax et Bonum,
Daniel

Posted by Daniel at September 30, 2007 6:15 PM