Crap.
Is he referring to 2 Thessalonians 3:10?
“The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
The scripture says the poor will always be with us.
Charity starts with the individual.
I would love to see the CHURCH pick up her responsibility for charity. I just don’t see how politics enters the picture.
Government action... pfft.... This man has more faith in government than in Christ’s Church.
Ah yes, the call for “government action.” The good bishop might try reading the Bible and put down Marx for a while.
Sigh. Stop right there.
Well hate to break it to the Prelate, but governments all over the world and especially in the West have failed miserably. Every effort by the US to help the poor ends up killing more babies in the womb. With secular government intervention comes "family planning" and free offers to abort babies (murder).
I for one after having to sit through all those Jesuit lectures on Liberation Theology (LT) know where Pope Francis and the Prelate are taking us...To the socialistic non spiritual Liberation Theology model.
So let us not be fooled by this. Pope Francis came from the "hot bed" of LT in Latin America. If Pope Francis is really concerned about the poor, he should be encouraging all churches and individuals to give directly to the poor instead of relying on the secular governments to institute their atheistic/agnostic population control eugenics model.
Maybe melt down some of that gold in Vatican city and support some single pregnant moms.
Or better yet, let the Gospel speak for itself because with those who heed the call of the Master, will live moral lives, get married and have kids and abortion would not even be a thought.
Calm down folks and read what he said without adding to it.
The right to life is fundamental.
No difference between starvation and abortion - neither the fetus nor the child/adult that is starved to death has a choice in the matter.
Find satan where he is - in those running from the Church because they have selfishness in their hearts for sharing the gifts God blessed them with - like two strong arms.
How do you stop poverty that leads to starvation? INSERT SHOUTING HERE.
Another dingbat Bishop.
Will they ever clean house?
Our Lord stated you will always have the poor, so the idea that we will ever eliminate poverty is completely unbiblical. Not so with abortion.
In the America piece, this bishop stated:
So it is with the issue of poverty. The core teaching of the church on the role of government in combating poverty declares that in addition to promoting conditions that provide meaningful jobs for their citizens, nations must provide a humane threshold of income, health benefits and housing. Just as important, as Pope Francis has repeatedly taught, wealthy nations must work ardently to reduce gross inequalities of wealth within their borders and beyond. Accomplishing these goals requires a series of complex prudential decisions about financial structures, incentives for wealth creation and income support programs that enhance rather than undermine family life. Many different types of choices are compatible within a full commitment to Catholic teachings on economic justice.
While, yes, Christian teaching mandates generosity to the poor, how that is done is a different issue:
In recent years the range of such intervention has vastly expanded, to the point of creating a new type of State, the so-called "Welfare State". This has happened in some countries in order to respond better to many needs and demands, by remedying forms of poverty and deprivation unworthy of the human person. However, excesses and abuses, especially in recent years, have provoked very harsh criticisms of the Welfare State, dubbed the "Social Assistance State". Malfunctions and defects in the Social Assistance State are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the State. Here again the principle of subsidiarity must be respected: a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.
By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.
In recent years the range of such intervention has vastly expanded, to the point of creating a new type of State, the so-called "Welfare State". This has happened in some countries in order to respond better to many needs and demands, by remedying forms of poverty and deprivation unworthy of the human person. However, excesses and abuses, especially in recent years, have provoked very harsh criticisms of the Welfare State, dubbed the "Social Assistance State". Malfunctions and defects in the Social Assistance State are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the State. Here again the principle of subsidiarity must be respected: a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.
By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.
15. And in addition to injustice, it is only too evident what an upset and disturbance there would be in all classes, and to how intolerable and hateful a slavery citizens would be subjected. The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be in reality the levelling down of all to a like condition of misery and degradation. Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property. This being established, we proceed to show where the remedy sought for must be found.…
…17. It must be first of all recognized that the condition of things inherent in human affairs must be borne with, for it is impossible to reduce civil society to one dead level. Socialists may in that intent do their utmost, but all striving against nature is in vain. There naturally exist among mankind manifold differences of the most important kind; people differ in capacity, skill, health, strength; and unequal fortune is a necessary result of unequal condition. Such unequality is far from being disadvantageous either to individuals or to the community. Social and public life can only be maintained by means of various kinds of capacity for business and the playing of many parts; and each man, as a rule, chooses the part which suits his own peculiar domestic condition.…
…38. Here, however, it is expedient to bring under special notice certain matters of moment. First of all, there is the duty of safeguarding private property by legal enactment and protection. Most of all it is essential, where the passion of greed is so strong, to keep the populace within the line of duty; for, if all may justly strive to better their condition, neither justice nor the common good allows any individual to seize upon that which belongs to another, or, under the futile and shallow pretext of equality, to lay violent hands on other people's possessions. Most true it is that by far the larger part of the workers prefer to better themselves by honest labor rather than by doing any wrong to others. But there are not a few who are imbued with evil principles and eager for revolutionary change, whose main purpose is to stir up disorder and incite their fellows to acts of violence. The authority of the law should intervene to put restraint upon such firebrands, to save the working classes from being led astray by their maneuvers, and to protect lawful owners from spoliation.…
So which one we follow? The teaching of AMCHURCH™ or the teachings of the Catholic Church?
I agree now more than ever that poverty is a big problem that we must address as Christians. The problem is that the best solution to poverty is a good job, not a handout. The current POTUS in not interested in good, new jobs. He is more interested in increasing benefits, and government jobs, which only redistribute wealth and does nothing to grow the economy.
When clergy get involved with anti-poverty promotions they just reenact all the old failed policies of wealth redistribution. We need to grow a bigger pie and unleash the energy and innovation of the American spirit.
I am going to go out on a limb: I’ll bet that if you consult the pro-lifers in San Francisco, they will tell you that this bishop is a life-long Democrat activist who has never lifted a finger to support the pro-life movement.
Another Communist Catholic Bishop...Seems you religion if full of them...