Catholic Word of the Day: POVERTY OF SHARING, 12-12-09

CatholicReference.net ^ | 12-12-09 | Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary

[Salvation]

Featured Term (selected at random):

POVERTY OF SHARING

The voluntary sacrifice of one's possessions for the common good of a community. All means of support and activity are provided by the group. Practiced in the Church since apostolic times, it is described by St. Luke as one of the effects of receiving the Holy Spirit: "The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed" (Acts 2:44-45).

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

[Salvation]

I think a generosity of giving is seen in all Christian denominations at Christmas time, whether it be sending Christmas cards or offering free meals to those in need.

Our church is planning to provide 1300 meals here at Christmas to all, with no cost to those coming to eat. A varied menu is offered: Ham and the trimmings, enchiladas, as well as some turkey and dressing meals.

[GeronL]

The left is great at sharing poverty

[Salvation]

Catholic Word of the Day – links will be provided later by another FReeper.

 

Casualism	Victim	Frustulum
Unity	Isaiah	Episcopal Curia
Wake	Canonical Age	Paschal Candle
Doctrinal Demythology	Pro Armenis	Lamb
Responsory	Dogma	Roman Martyrology
Greek Rites	Anglican Orders	Attritionism
Ciborium	Paenitemini	Amice
Feast of the Visitation	Our Lady Protectress of Rome (Salus Populi Romani)	Tosefta
Györ	Poverty of Sharing

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[Salvation]

Thanks for the laugh.

[Tax-chick]

Our KofC council is collecting food for 200 families, iirc. They hand out slips to the congregation - “4 cake mixes,” “8 boxes of instant grits,” and so on - and then put together packages for several days’ worth of meals for each recipient. It’s a hugh job.

[Desdemona]

This really should be a year-round effort, not just one at this time of year. We have a wonderfully inspirational place, St. Patrick Center, that isn't archdiocesan, but is very Catholic that's had a casserole program since the early 80's where every day three parishes provide food for the homeless. For every household, it's a once a month pan of whatever your parish makes and they provide the pan. It really works well and this has expanded to backpacks full of school supplies in late summer, among other efforts.

And please remember, food pantries operate year-round. And they are always so grateful for what they receive.

[Salvation]

**every day three parishes provide food for the homeless**

This sounds wonderful!

There are also several programs for homeless families.

One is Interfaith Hospitality Network — churches take tuens hosting these families, they providew dinner and breakfast, then during the day — either the families look for work or go to their day center with the children. There are about 15 different congregations that assist with this in my town.

[Salvation]

K of C helps at our church too —

Another possibility: the second weekend of every month we sponsor a St. Vincent DePaul Society van for canned or boxed food collection.

The St. Vincent DePaul Society then uses these groceries to provide needy families with food.

Along the way — I even took my identification and a bill to prove that I lived in the area and got a food box. (It was during a time after my husband’s death when I still had depenedents at home, but the Social Security Death Benefits for them had ceased.

[Desdemona]

And that's just the hot lunch program. We also all take turns making hundreds of baloney sandwiches that the staff at St. Patrick takes to the streets after dark. It's usually a couple hours after Mass once a year.

They also have a very successful reintroduction program for recently released parolees and those recovering from drug addiction. THere's a grill/restaurant and now a small business incubator that's almost full and was just funded with a $250,000 grant.

It's really a cool place.

[Salvation]

OK, Catholic posters here — where are the Protestants? Where are their examples of serving out of their poverty?

Or am I being too cynical?

[Tax-chick]

I’ve had some involvement with United Methodist congregations in my area, because they often make their churches available for Scouts meetings. The Methodists have holiday meals for the needy, run programs for the elderly, support the pregnancy center, take shifts at the homeless mission, and so on.

Just from reading the newspaper and watching the signs as I drive around, I’d say that Protestant churches here have as many initiatives to help the poor as the Catholics do.

The Word of the Day was referring to a more relational sort of sharing, with members of a community helping one another individually. When people in the congregation are buying food or gas or paying the rent for others, babysitting, taking the elderly to the doctor, and so on, that’s not visible to the public, but I think it has to be a feature of any functioning Christian community.

[Desdemona]

Where are their examples of serving out of their poverty? Or am I being too cynical?

Well, part of the issue is that the congregations operate very independently. Any one individual church or congregation is run by a board. Each has their own programs that I've seen. It's not like St. Patrick where one woman and Monsignor Slattery used the network to get started and make it work. All you needed was one person willing to do the collecting in a parish asking her friends across the Bridge table and viola! And then, there's the St. Vincent de Paul which is massive and is now operating in some parts of the county in cooperation with parishes in the city where the actual indigent are.

From what I've seen, protestant churches, at least here, are very much their own entities. The Lutherans are probably the most inter-connected. There is one evangelical guy here who runs a shelter with a lot of programs, but he's also big time into alternative energy and takes every opportunity to embarrass the city (on purpose) that he can. I'm sure there are many efforts that fly under the radar. And the Salvation Army, which does very good work.

As to Tax-Chick's point on parishioner banding together - your parish is supposed to be, at least to me, an extended family and that's what you do for family. In my home parish, much of what was mentioned is standard operating procedure.

[Salvation]

These are both great reports!

Our church also cooperates with other churches in supplying workers each month for the local food bank.

They stock the received groceries and then sometimes give out 40-60 (rough estimate) food boxes.