WelCom November 2023
All parishes throughout the Palmerston North Diocese will be invited to seek out the Poor and the causes of their poverty in response to World Day of the Poor on 19 November.
Material poverty can be obvious, but Pope Francis prompts us to seek out other less obvious forms of poverty and address their causes.
We are called to not only acknowledge every poor person but also every form of poverty.
Men and women devoted to care for the poor do more than give charity: ‘they listen, they engage, they try to understand and deal with the difficult situations and their causes.’ Getting to the causes of poverty can be difficult. Archbishop Helder Camera of Brazil was praised when he gave food to the poor but ridiculed and dismissed when he asked why the poor had no food.
Other forms of poverty arise from war, from economic and ecological speculation, inadequate wages, unsafe workplaces, a sense of hopelessness especially among our young.
We surely meet Christ in the poor and so we are cautioned ‘not to turn our face away from anyone who is poor’ and not to turn away from many situations causing poverty.
The Steering Group for the soon to be appointed PN JPDE Commission has invited parishes to identify the poor, and forms of poverty, in each parish and to determine the causes of such poverty. Parishes are asked to report back to the Steering Group on their findings.
– Kevin Campbell, Member of Steering Group PN JPDEC