My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord
Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes
in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the
fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please, ”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ”
or “Sit at my feet, ”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?
James
2:1-5
I was fascinated by our
second reading today, fascinated enough to spend some quality time reflecting
on it. Four groups of people readily came to mind: (1) the mentally ill people who
have shown up here during Mass on Sunday, (2) the street people who often confront us
for a handout on the sidewalk in front of the Cathedral before Mass, (3) those
young people who stand with a cardboard sign now almost daily at the entrance to the Kroger
parking lot where I live ostensibly wanting financial help
and (4) the poor people down in the islands where I volunteer.
I am not usually at a loss for words, but many
times I become a bundle of conflicting emotions. Do I let them disrupt Masses and maybe put one of you in danger? Do I let them beg on the sidewalk? Do I hand them money? Do I
just ignore them? If I do want to help, what is the best way to help? I don’t
want to contribute to an alcohol or drug problem. I do not want to enable
people who are just not motivated to find work, but I also do not want to
pass someone up who is really in need of help. I came to the same conclusion that
I always come to and that is there is no easy answer. I know that Jesus requires us to do
something, but do what and how?
I am very proud of this
congregation in the way it welcomes the rich and the poor to be members. I
still remember two days, in particular, when I was proud to be your pastor. One day, when we were just beginning this restoration project, the doorbell
rang and there stood a street person that I had seen almost every day in the
bologna sandwich line. My immediate
reaction was to prepare myself by biting my tongue in preparation to firmly
remind him it was not “time” for the bologna sandwich distribution. “Father,”
he said, “I want to make a donation to the renovation of our Cathedral. I noticed he had said “our Cathedral.” With that he
opened his hand and gave me $2.00 in change. I did not want to take it, but I
did not want to rob him of an opportunity to be generous, just because he was
poor.
Another day, I came over
here a little late for noon Mass on a weekday. I was in a hurry to get vested,
but down the main isle came a bag lady waving her hands to get my attention. I remember
talking to myself. “Damn! I don’t have time for this! I’ll tell her to go over
for a bologna sandwich after Mass with the other street people.” She
interrupted my self-talk with these words. “Father! Where is the “poor box?” I
want to give this to the poor! With that she opened her dirty hand to show me a
few coins!” I felt so ashamed, but grateful she didn’t give me time to open my big
mouth and stick my foot into it!
Another time, after the
renovation was finished, I was over in the Galleria eating lunch after noon
Mass. Two street people were seated next to my table. They did not recognize
me, but they got up and started to leave when one of them said to the other,
“Come on! I want to show you our Cathedral!” “Our” Cathedral! I was so proud that the people here were so
welcoming that he would know that he, too, belonged here!
My experience on Sunday
in front of the church greeting you for Mass has not always been so “lovely.” I have
been called more obscene names out there than any place in my life when I have
told people that lunch would be served downstairs after the noon Mass. We have
an obligation to try to help them, but we do not have to have them dictate how
we are to do it. I believe it would be unwise to hand out money to large
numbers of people on the side walk for many reasons, the safety of our families
being one. I take their heat and do not demean them, no matter what they call me. I
believe we have to be prudent in how we help them. We have a very nice social
service program set up here at the Cathedral that is financed, supported and staffed by
an army of generous donors and volunteers.
The same is true of the
mentally ill who come into church. We welcome people to sit wherever they wish,
no matter how they are shabbily they are dressed, as long as they do not act out! We have to
protect the rest of the people from some possibly dangerous mental behaviors. I
have had a knife pulled on me by a poor schizophrenic over a homily, right
here, over a homily welcoming gay and divorced Catholic members. I have had to
practically drag another woman down the main isle to the back, who had taken over the
altar platform to scream from the Book of Revelations. I could tell you story after story from my 14
year pastorate here. Our motto, when I was here, was “all are welcome.” Later I
had to add, “All are welcome does not mean anything goes!” I felt an obligation to welcome all people,
but also to protect those who did come here.
I am totally at a loss
how to help the growing number of young healthy-looking young adults, sometimes
couples, standing at intersections with cardboard signs asking for help. From
all appearances, they look healthy enough, but I learned a long time ago that
you cannot judge a book by its cover. It especially aggravates me that Kroger
cannot hire enough people to keep their shelves stocked and I see these young
adults begging right in front of the store! I was even more confused about what
to do when someone pointed out to me that they could probably work, but they
could not pass the drug test. I certainly do not want to support a drug habit.
I did help a young Hispanic family (father, mother and four small kids) the
other day in the Kroger parking lot. I do not usually hand out money, but I do
have a rule that I will not treat them cruelly, or call them names, even if I
decide I cannot help.
Surely most of you know
by now that, in my retirement years, I am volunteering in the Caribbean
missions – particularly in the poor country of Saint Vincent. In helping down
there, I am trying to be as smart as I can in how I help. I have made it clear
at the end of Masses at the Cathedral and on the radio down there that I am helping to strengthen the institutions that help the many, rather
than a few individuals: schools, hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes and the
diocese. I have also tried to make it clear that I do not want to make them
dependent on my help, but to try to help them find ways of making themselves independent. One of
the examples involves buying a boat motor for a priest with three islands and
no way to get there except hitching rides of commercial vessels. He had a
parishioner who has a boat. My charity bought the motor with the understanding
that the man with the boat could fish to make a living if he took the priest to his islands when he needed to go and that a percentage of his fishing income
would go into a fund to replace the motor. We also air-conditioned a meeting
room at the Diocesan Pastoral Centre so that they could rent it out, with the
understanding that a percentage of the rent would go toward maintaining and someday replacing the air-conditioners.
We have also done things
to “pull people up.” We have sent several young people to World Youth Day. We
have offered a computer camp for poor kids. We have updated the Diocesan
Pastoral Centre, We have recently purchased a van for the orphanages and a needed car
for the bishop. We
just sent down 13 big boxes of school supplies and hope to offer a number of
scholarships to Catholic schools. The tuition is only about $156 a year!
Helping the poor is not as simple as it sounds! Let me end by sharing a few principles to keep in mind - ones I have tried to live by. (1) Helping the poor is not an option in the Christian faith. We start by noticing. It is so easy to turn away, turn off any news about it and try not to see it. (2) After you notice, you have to care. Caring begins with the realization that there by the grace of God go I! (3) Be smart about the way you help the poor. Being naive and throwing a dollar at it, might relieve your guilt and make you feel good for the moment, but it probably does neither you nor them any good really. Support reputable social service programs like the Cathedral Soup Kitchen and an international charity with a good reputation - like mine! I like to support programs that lift the poor out of poverty rather than pass out Band Aids. Helping the schools in the islands makes more sense to me than handing out cash. (4) Get personally involved. That's what I am doing in my retirement in the poor country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Parishioners here take trips to Haiti. Look for people to help. Don't just wait till you see them on the side of the road. (5) If you can do nothing, at least be kind to the poor. Do not call them names, demean them or judge them by the way they look. You could be terribly wrong! You just might be demeaning Jesus in disguise. When in serious doubt, when my judgment could go either way, I usually go with helping, just in case! In the end, I would rather be a sucker than a tightwad!
The Homeless Jesus
Sculpture in Front of the Vancouver Cathedral
(notice the holes in the feet)
