Evangelization Update

Father John Rausch offers this analogy: A parent is watching three small children at the beach. Two are playing in the sand and the other child is in the water. The child in the water is suddenly having trouble. Any parent would leave the two who are safe on the beach and rush to save the one who is in danger.

That's what "option for the poor" means. God calls us to join with him in rushing to the side of those who are in danger of losing their dignity, their life's direction, their chance to achieve their basic rights as human beings.

This preferential option for the poor and vulnerable leads to these convictions*:

Scripture and our tradition call us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. (Mt. 25:31-46)

A basic test of a society is how its most vulnerable members are faring.

We must seek creative ways to expand the emphasis of our nation's founders on individual rights and freedom by extending those ideals to economic life.

If we removed from the Gospels, all the Bible verses related to Jesus reaching out to the poor and vulnerable, the isolated and wounded, what passages would be missing?

Examples of making a difference:

How one small Vanceburg, Ky., mission parish delivers more than gifts: Project Merry Christmas

How and Why Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Pulaski, Tenn. Tithes
http://home.catholicweb.com/PulaskiTN/index.cfm/NewsItem?id=113025

To return to "How God Is Calling You to Make a Difference in the World"

To return to the beginning of this Evangelization Update

* In addition to the minutes of a Glenmary Commission on Evangelization meeting, questions and statements are from a workshop based on the video In the Footsteps of Jesus by the USCCB and Lay Ministers, Lay Disciples: Evangelizing Power in the Parish by Susan Blum-Gerding, Ed.D and Frank DeSiano, C.S.P., Paulist Press, 1999. The workshop is the work of the Social Action Committee of Immaculate Conception Church, Pulaski, TN.

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