Almsgiving is one of the customs of Lent. While we all know that Catholics are prescribed to abstain from meat during Lent, we often forget the motive. In previous times, land meats were more expensive than fish; sacrificing meat in favor of fish is meant to help people spend less on food and have more money for the poor. We forget the meaning of fasting and abstaining in its entire context. But what else are we missing when we think of giving to the needy?
Last year, Honolulu’s mayor Rick Blangiardi visited Saint Augustine Church in Waikiki to ask its pastor to cease the parish operations of feeding the homeless. As you can expect, this was met with outrage. But was the mayor wrong?
In 2011, Marc Alexander served as the coordinator for homelessness in Hawaii. Now laicised, Alexander was a priest with an impressive background with degrees from Louvaine and the prestigious Pontifical Gregorian University. He eventually was tapped to be Vicar General under Honolulu’s Bishop Larry Silva.
Alexander said, “Don’t feed the homeless.”
Alexander had a point. If we feed the homeless on the street, they stay homeless on the street. If we feed them at the shelter, they’ll go to the shelter — and to be able to get fed there, they would need to get off drugs and behave.
Alexander’s admonishment demonstrated what the government’s goal is — they want to give the poor a hand up, and not just a hand out. The government would prefer to systematically help them get into lives integrated with society and wants to make success stories out of them.
When Mayor Blangiardi visited Saint Augustine Church to ask them not to feed the homeless anymore, this is what he had in mind.
So what should Saint Augustine Church do? How can you tell a Christian to not feed the poor?
Of course, both Blangiardi and Saint Augustine Church agree with the end goal. No one working for the mayor’s government believes the poor shouldn’t be fed. No one working for Saint Augustine Church believes that the homeless should be kept homeless.
This is worth considering as we go into Lent. Should we give handouts to the hungry on the street? I have misgiving with that, considering the money might go for drugs instead of food. Perhaps it’s preferable to give to organizations that systematically help the poor better themselves.
Yet, say we stopped giving handouts. Do people who do not give handouts on the street ever actually give to charitable organizations? I’m guessing not.