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A little over a year into Francis’s tenure, debate continues to rage throughout the church over the question of just how radical this pope really is, and the degree to which he might shift the Catholic spotlight from issues of sexual morality onto those such as poverty, immigration, torture, and even the environment....

I've always thought the Church should "shine its spotlight" on scripture. A Christian can't properly select a few passages to follow or to emphasize. Rather, the Bible should be taken as a whole, where we do our best to follow scripture, tradition, reason, and the guidance we receive through prayer.

It would not be enough to "take up serpents" and ignore the rest of the Bible, nor is it enough to feed the sick and the hungry if we are self-righteously violating other parts of God's Word. We will all fall short of the goal that is set for us, but we should all hold that as a goal and strive to do our best. Celebrating rebellion against God is not acceptable, not even if we give generously (and for conservative Christians generously with our own money) to help the poor. This is no different from the obvious fact that it is not okay to ignore the poor, the sick, and the hungry merely because we follow scriptural guidance on sexual conduct.

‘I’ve always thought the Church should “shine its spotlight” on scripture. A Christian can’t properly select a few passages to follow or to emphasize. Rather, the Bible should be taken as a whole, where we do our best to follow scripture, tradition, reason, and the guidance we receive through prayer.’

Agreed.

I've been donating to various Catholic charities for eons.
The Church is so assiduous and honest about distributing food, clothing and housing to the poorest of the poor that the U.S. government uses (Who knows now with the Obama administration?) the Catholic Church to distribute foreign aid to those in need.

I also knew that 90 cents out of every dollar donated by non-Catholic charities (i.e. Red Cross) goes to admimistrative costs. For Catholic charities, its the reverse. That makes sense since so many of those charitable foundations (Mother Theresa's Home for the Dying, for example) do their work for the love of God.

Money can't BUY that.