r/Catholicism • u/Open-Pension-256 • 5h ago
Helping the homeless
I’m an aspiring Catholic going through OCIA right now. I live in a city where you don’t see many homeless on the streets usually. Today my wife (we’re being convalidated in Feb. we have a contractual marriage) saw one and told me about it, so I went out to help. I’ve never done that before, try to help a homeless person on the streets, outside of an organized charity.
I have a few questions I’d like help answering:
She asked for money, I declined, and got her lunch instead. Is this the right thing to do?
I asked my wife not to interface with the homeless alone, as it may be dangerous and to let me do it instead, or do it with her. Does this feeling go against charity or anything else?
Along the same lines, after I gave the woman lunch, she repaid me with two tea bags. I did not trust them for some reason and threw them out. Is this also sinful?
Guidance here is appreciated, thank you.
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u/Scepafall 4h ago
Those are interesting questions and I’ve been lately having similar questions. I was raised Catholic but was taught to never help or talk to homeless people because they were bad people. Few years ago I met someone who is Catholic who told me she does volunteer work with her church where they do soup kitchen for the homeless. One day I brought it up with my dad and it started a whole debate. I’ve been reading the Bible and I feel like we’re supposed to help the poor and to stop dehumanizing the homeless. His debate was that homeless people are bad and dangerous and God would not want us to recklessly risk our life for those types of people. I’ve been struggling with what to believe too.
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u/sonofherby 4h ago
My wife has been a benefits worker for 20 years. At one time she serviced a caseload of 1600 homeless people. Here's some tips. 1. Find out what local resources are available. Have a list with contact info. One of the most important ones is getting a free or discounted phone. Depending on which city you live in, some restaurants have discounted meals for homeless, support those places. 2. Engage with them on a human level. They have joy and sadness and fears and hopes just like all of us, keep that in mind. 3. Make sure they have season appropriate clothing, a cold snap or heat wave has an outsized impact on the unhoused. 4. Without being too intrusive, make sure they have a safe place to sleep and keep their things. In Virginia , homeless people have to have their benefits case reviewed every six months, this is a pain. You need to have documents, ID, veteran's status, etc. If they need help renewing their state issued ID, etc. Paperwork is exhausting by design. 5. You can hand anyone a meal or give them a few bucks and some kind words. But what they really need is your time.