Poverty and Action

I have been reading "Think and Act Anew: How Poverty in America Affects Us All and What We Can Do about It" by Larry Snyder, and it made me really curious about poverty in Virginia. I often think of poverty as a third world country, and I forget that it's happening in our own backyard. Over 40 million Americans live in poverty. According to the research by the Department of Social Services, in Virginia alone, there are over 750,000 people living in poverty including over 250,000 children. 1 in 10 Virginians lived below the federal poverty line in 2008, and Virginia's poverty rate has not decreased in the past 30 years. Recent research has shown that it will continue to increase, unless something is done about it.

In Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), he says, "Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbor; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical letter, “God is love” everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope."

I know a lot of people are probably reading this thinking, "well all of the people that are living in poverty in my state are poor because they are just looking for a free handout, and are too lazy to get a job." In certain cases, this statement can be true, but there are currently 27 kids at the local homeless shelter in my hometown. Do you think those kids are looking for a free handout? I mean, what kid wants to be living at a homeless shelter over Thanksgiving? I'd want to be at home with my parents baking cookies, and watching holiday movies.

I don't know what it's like to live in poverty, but I see it every day in my own neighborhood. Nelson Mendela said, “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

As Christians and Catholics we are morally obliged to recognize poverty in our communities, and to see everyone as if they were Jesus in disguise. Pope Benedict said, "The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them."

By: Savannah Olshove