Growing up in a working class family, Dad working six days a week, and Mom taking care of the home and family, we didn’t know poverty. In the 40’s and 50’s, our world was small and we never traveled far from home. We imagined that everyone had the same: a three bedroom row house, a stay-at-home mom, maybe a car and/or a TV. We played in one neighborhood, shopped at the corner for food, passed down clothes from one to another, went to church on Sundays, and never went out to eat. Life was good.
Much has changed since those times; but not as much as we think. We live in a diverse world where we know first hand how others live. The world we see is certainly not the “Reign of God” that Jesus preached and died for.
Poverty is rampant all over the world. The statistics are staggering. What makes this even more difficult to accept is that we, the United States of America, are the driving force behind much of this poverty. Poverty in America is growing on a daily basis. This is not a result of the current economic crisis as much as the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, and a consumer society that never has enough.
We have a Gospel obligation to care for our brothers and sisters and the programs of our nation must reflect such care. Perhaps we can think beyond our own best interests, and act in solidarity with the “least among us.” As Catholics, we are all brothers and sisters under one God. Such is the challenge of the Lord’s Prayer.
When we hear the words of Scripture, “the poor will always be with us” (John12:8), we are often tempted to resign ourselves to this reality of life. However, perhaps Jesus is calling us to the deeper reality of relationship. When I read the Gospel stories of Jesus, I find that Jesus is always with the poor, the outcast, the cast out, the sick, the widow, the public sinner, etc. Jesus embraces a common bond that very few understand. If Jesus were to walk into our diocese, I believe he’d come to Camden to preach and live his message of love and dignity. Just a guess on my part.
Make no mistake; I do not want to glamorize poverty or the devastating impact of poverty. However, as one who has lived among the poor of this city for many years, Camden is a place of grace, blessing and companionship. To walk and work side by side with those who struggle is pure gift — pure Gospel. Whatever I imagine that I have done for the people of Camden pales by comparison to how these sacred relationships have transformed me.
Much of our society would prefer to de-personalize the poor. Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian priest, asked, “So you say you love the poor? Name them.” This is the ministry that Jesus lived. He walked among the tired. He knew their names and their pain. What hinders us from such relationships is often the stereotypes we so readily accept, as well as the structuring of society that keeps the hurting out of sight and out of mind. Yet, our baptism calls us to a “preferential love and concern” for the least among us. This is the essence of the story of Jesus, the demanding core of our faith, and the true meaning of discipleship.
The bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” which encourages us to establish a more just society through our right to vote, quotes The Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Those oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the church, which since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief through numerous works of charity.”
This preferential love for the poor, born and living among us, is essential to follow the path of Jesus. When forming our consciences as Catholic voters, we must be led to those who live among us. Pope Benedict XVI taught that “love for the widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and need of every kind, is as essential to the church as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel.”
As “faithful citizens,” we are challenged not just to think of ourselves or those we love, but to love and be loved by the outsiders in our midst. We cannot separate our politics from our faith journey. True love is always about the other. God’s love continues to teach us this truth. The poor are a blessing, a reminder to help us form a society that is most honestly defined by how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst.
Msgr. McDermott is pastor of St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral, Camden and Vicar General, Diocese of Camden.
For more information pertaining to Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, go to the Diocese of Camden website,www.CamdenDiocese.org