The Preferential Option for the Poor

            "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."

 – Dom (Archbishop) Helder Camara

            In the past year, we have seen elections on all levels of government, debates and deals to avoid the “fiscal cliff”, more haggling over the “debt ceiling”…and on and on. Through it all there has been one question that has been conspicuous by its absence – “How will this affect the poor?”

            This is the fundamental question that needs to be asked when approaching any economic or social issue from a Catholic Social Teaching perspective. It is called the “fundamental option for the poor” and it is our challenge “to speak for the voiceless, to defend the defenseless, to assess life styles, policies, and social institutions in terms of their impact on the poor. ” (Economic Justice for All, #16). In other words, before we look at any other factors, any legislation or policy has to be viewed from the moral perspective of how well the poor and vulnerable will fare from that policy.

            To be clear, this teaching has been a part of the doctrine of the Church from its earliest writers, and in modern social thought, it has been framed to assert that “the poor and badly off have a  claim to special consideration” (Rerum Novarum #37). This special consideration includes not just social and economic policies, but the requirement for the more fortunate to “renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of others” (Call to Action #32).

            The “option for the poor” is “not intended to be an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community” (Economic Justice for All #88). It is a requirement of all of us and each of us to begin to heal these wounds by creating solidarity with the poor – to understand their difficulties in a compassionate way, and to recognize them as individuals with dignity and an infinite value in the eyes of God.

            And yet, the reality is that many of us tend to see “the poor” as nameless and faceless millions who are strangers and alien. Maybe one reason for this is our lack of actual involvement with poor people. Many people stress the generosity of our fellow citizens; Americans are known worldwide as a caring people who contribute to charities that benefit the sick and the poor. But how much time is spent actually engaging with poor people, seeing them face to face, knowing their names, listening to their stories?

            Poverty is not only having fewer financial resources than necessary – it is also accompanied by a lack of full participation in the social aspects of society, and an inability to influence decisions that affect one’s life. Spending time with people of need allows us to not only hear them with passionate concern, but to advocate for them, to stand up for them, and to help them find the resources that they need to pull themselves out of poverty.

            Lent begins this month, and the three traditional activities for Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This Lent, perhaps we should consider almsgiving as not only giving of our financial wealth, but of our time as well by volunteering in a food pantry (Catholic Charities runs five of them), or in a dining hall (like St. Vincent de Paul’s). The “preferential option for the poor” requires us to stand with them and for them; to feed them, certainly, but also to ask why they are poor and advocate for policies that will lift them up and out of their poverty.