Pope Benedict’s Shoes
Picture courtesy of the Vatican
One of the things that I love about the Catholic faith is the work that the church does for not just the poor and homeless in America but around the world. Pick a city in America and many of the charitable organizations that are providing many of the basic services to be a human being are provided through churches. Not just the Catholic church but many others as well.
Here in Worcester the Catholic church subsidizes many programs for families from day care so a single mother can work, to providing meals for the homeless and the elderly. There isn’t a sign bragging about it, they just do it. Not for just a day or a week, they provide free services to the poorest amongst us year round.
What it costs the Catholic church to do this amazing work for their fellow man will never be known. When they serve a hot meal to someone that his homeless they do not need or ask for payment. When they deliver a meal to a shut in elderly person and spend the time it takes to eat the meal with the shut in they do not need or ask for payment. Caring for our fellow man is the path that the faithful follow and the many volunteers that provide many of the services of the church do it not for a paycheck but for their faith.
Over at the Washington Post they have this uplifting story on just another Catholic following his faith…
Homeless Get to Walk in the Pope's Shoes
The Associated Press
Monday, September 24, 2007; 6:05 PM
MINNEAPOLIS -- Some homeless Minneapolis residents are walking in the pope's shoes. That's after two big boxes from Rome arrived at Sharing and Caring Hands, a homeless mission in downtown Minneapolis. Recently, the Rev. Joseph Johnson, the rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul gave some friends from the Vatican a tour of the facility while they were visiting the Twin Cities.
Sharing and Caring Hands has an on-site shoe room, but director Mary Jo Copeland didn't know what was in the big boxes when they arrived.
"Father (Johnson) says, 'That's from the Pope.' I said, `What do you mean? The Pope,'" said Copeland.
One of the things that I love about the Catholic faith is the work that the church does for not just the poor and homeless in America but around the world. Pick a city in America and many of the charitable organizations that are providing many of the basic services to be a human being are provided through churches. Not just the Catholic church but many others as well.
Here in Worcester the Catholic church subsidizes many programs for families from day care so a single mother can work, to providing meals for the homeless and the elderly. There isn’t a sign bragging about it, they just do it. Not for just a day or a week, they provide free services to the poorest amongst us year round.
What it costs the Catholic church to do this amazing work for their fellow man will never be known. When they serve a hot meal to someone that his homeless they do not need or ask for payment. When they deliver a meal to a shut in elderly person and spend the time it takes to eat the meal with the shut in they do not need or ask for payment. Caring for our fellow man is the path that the faithful follow and the many volunteers that provide many of the services of the church do it not for a paycheck but for their faith.
Over at the Washington Post they have this uplifting story on just another Catholic following his faith…
Homeless Get to Walk in the Pope's Shoes
The Associated Press
Monday, September 24, 2007; 6:05 PM
MINNEAPOLIS -- Some homeless Minneapolis residents are walking in the pope's shoes. That's after two big boxes from Rome arrived at Sharing and Caring Hands, a homeless mission in downtown Minneapolis. Recently, the Rev. Joseph Johnson, the rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul gave some friends from the Vatican a tour of the facility while they were visiting the Twin Cities.
Sharing and Caring Hands has an on-site shoe room, but director Mary Jo Copeland didn't know what was in the big boxes when they arrived.
"Father (Johnson) says, 'That's from the Pope.' I said, `What do you mean? The Pope,'" said Copeland.
She opened them to find several dozen pairs of handmade Italian shoes to give to the poor. - Washington Post
If you read the whole piece then you would have to sit back and say to yourself…Wow! My first thought was that he is no longer walking in the shadows of the footsteps of John Paul II. He is walking in the footsteps of Peter and in doing so on the same path as Jesus Christ. When is the last time you heard of some President, King, or Queen doing something like that? Auctioned off for charity does not count.
Thank you Benedict XVI for bringing the humility of Catholicism back to this faithful son of the church. While it is easy to scream about the evils of the church in the past, nobody in the Catholic church is screaming at the top of their lungs what good the church does day in and day out. The mission of the church continues as it should and the simple act of boxing up some shoes and shipping them to America from Rome for the homeless speaks volumes.
Papamoka
Labels: Catholic Church, Catholic Faith, Charity, Faith in America, Fellow Man, God, Homeless, Jesus Christ, Pope, Quiet Charity, Shut In Elderly
posted by Papamoka at
8:14 PM
3 Comments:
Funny, I couldn't imagine a president or prime minister doing the same thing.
WOW! That's great PR for the Catholic Church and the Pope. Yet, as YOU point out, it's not a PR move at ALL - it's just doing the right thing for the right reason. Thanks for sharing this one, bro!
Me either Tom!
Gunny, with all the pedophile crap that still is coming up in the news I figured the rest of the crew that is not abusing children needed a "At a boy!"
999 "oh SH!T" to go...lol.
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