It is very far from love to let people camp on the streets, sometimes a menace to themselves and to others, when they could be placed into shelters to receive food and help. To pretend this is akin to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke is to confuse hopeless poverty with drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness.
Muddled Thinking
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
“Oh you hypocrites!”
Buy the man breakfast, lunch or dinner.. but don’t hand out money that would be used for addiction or things that make YOU feel good.
I think he means First John 4:8, not John 4:8. And as usual, the liberal hasn’t taken the time and trouble to understand the passage he quotes, since his only interest in it is to use it as a prop for what he already believes. The verse in its native context is a command for Christians to care for their fellow Christians. We can also love others if we choose to, but we are not responsible for the welfare of every person on the planet. That’s just not what Jesus is saying here.
My response to Father Sichko:
https://twitter.com/sauldetars89102/status/1694981290745790644?t=-1ywzzMMIeXLlC8LoT2z-A&s=19
Sometimes I have to visit Corvallis, Oregon where my company’s headquarters are located. Often I go for evening walks from the hotel to downtown and back. There is a park of sorts on the southern end of Corvallis. Many homeless have tents there. Often I am asked for $5.00 or something like that. I respond, “I don’t carry cash, but there is an AA meeting up the street. Would you like to go with me? They have free coffee, cake, and cookies!” Not one has ever wanted to come with me at an AA meeting. And the police can do nothing about the squatting on public property by drug addicts and alcoholics. And yes, but for the grace of God, there go I. Nevertheless, as Corvallis itself, may it fill up on the squander that it has created. Liberal, progressive, Democrat!
Well, the bumper sticker theology isn’t helping in CA nor Portland.
Is it loving to just leave them on streets?
Vagrancy is a problem in any society where people are free to make decisions about how to live. Some vagrants belong in asylums and some belong in jail. Most are just people who have failed spectacularly at life and whose, as people do now and again. Vagrants can and should be cared for by charities operating shelters, soup kitchens, and community food cupboards. The contribution of local government should be to add police patrols to assist shelter staff in maintaining order and to roust loiterers of various sorts during waking hours. County governments can handle this; there is no need for state or federal assistance.
A contribution state and local government can make is to avoid inserting provisions into tax law, landlord-tenant law, building codes, or land use plans which remove the lower rungs of the housing market ladder or vest governments with the function of generating common-and-garden rental housing. Some of the vagrancy we see we would not if commercial flop houses, boarding houses, and apartments with shared kitchens &c. were still widespread, if landlords did not commonly face scads of red tape evicting abusive tenants and deadbeat tenants, if property taxes were not imposed on slum neighborhoods, and if landlords’ discretionary decisions about to whom to rent were not second-guessed by lawyers.
In Milwaukee I helped out at a soup kitchen run by Franciscan brothers. I asked about many of the guests that came in. The #1 ailment, according to a elder brother, was lack of love for self. Many didn’t feel comfortable with taking more than just a bowl of soup. They were offered hot showers, clothing and overnight accomodations, but the vast majority declined.
Love.
Love is a key ingredient to healing.
The second ingredient?
Forgiveness.
IMHO, one third are down on their luck, one third are mentally ill, one third are simply lazy. The first two examples can be helped but not the last.
For better or worse I do give to them directly. I often cannot just walk by.
Prayer to Our Lady works. If you can’t give them food or convince them to go to a shelter then say a prayer and leave it in our Lady’s hands. Mental Illness has much to do with anyone preferring to squat on a street corner where it is cold, dirty and unsafe. Nobody in their right mind would choose to live like that over having a safe, warm and clean place to be….it becomes a vicious cycle.
But agree that the hypocrisy from the “socially conscious” left is quite deafening- they wouldn’t want their loved one on the street being thrown crumbs and coins.
I walk by, and I hate it. I at least try to give an “I’m sorry, no”, so I can’t say that I treat anyone like garbage. I have supported food drives in the past but my parish currently isn’t operating one.
I live in a high-crime, high-turnover area. It might be a crazy person today, two addicts tomorrow. I don’t want to encourage aggressive solicitation, so I think I err on the side of minimal interaction. In my area there’s definitely a racial element. I can’t think of the proper euphemisms: it’s black men harassing black and white women. As a guy I don’t want to do anything that encourages homeless to hang out in front of a particular struggling business.
There is an interesting video on YouTube about homelessness done by California Insider “Truth Behind California’s Rising Homelessness | Zach Southall”:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9pbcKbVjbc
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The person being interviewed, Zach Southhall, works with the homeless. He said that one bad outcome of extended drug use is that it takes a toll on the drug users’ brain. That even when they get clean that they don’t come back 100%. He said that there is a component of PTSD to homelessness. He said that the response of institutions to the problem can have their own limitations in responding to homelessness.