A homily that EVERY Christian would benefit from reading & embracing. Just today, a client of mine was telling me that she sits on the charitable giving board of her Methodist church. She was bragging, of a sort, that their Church's giving runs into the tens of thousands of dollars & that it takes 4 typewritten pages to list all the "charities" they support. Then, she started to give examples: Boys & Girls Clubs, battered women's shelter, several secular food banks, Red Cross, etc. I asked her if she was aware that NONE of these organizations will disclose the REAL source of these financial blessings to the individuals who are being helped. In fact, they actually go out of their way to suppress any mention of God or The Church or the concept of Christian charity. I know, because I held a similar board position at an Episcopal Church (before my conversion to the RC Church). We were giving $5,000/year to the local battered women's shelter. We offered to also supply the shelter with copies of The Bible (ala the Gideon's) so that any woman who wanted one could have one free. We were given a most emphatic "NO!" They were quite insistant that they didn't want anything in that shelter that might suggest that they were in any way associated with a particular religion or religious group. Happy to take God's money, though. When it came right down to it, my client could only name 9 charitable organizations that were NOT entirely secular in nature. Just 9 out of her list that went 4 pages! Please think about that if any of you are in a position to help decide where God's money is being spent. As Mother Teresa said, the greatest poverty is not knowing Jesus.
Your post demonstrates why I give pretty much to strictly Catholic charities. Not Catholic Charities, but LifeLine Coalition, St. Vincent de Paul, etc.