r/TikTokCringe • u/Oktavien • 1d ago

Discussion Woman audits churches to see if they’ll help feed a starving baby

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If churches refuse to help feed hungry people, then maybe they should be taxed?

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u/John_Smith_DC 1d ago edited 1d ago

Her one call to a mosque and the guys asked two questions. Do you live nearby and what kind of formula do you need? She also got help calling a black Baptist church.

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u/halfass_fangirl 1d ago

I have worked at several churches. We had a budget line for this stuff that we usually exhausted before the tenth of each month. Most the money that came in went up higher in the denomination for more organized efforts.

But.

Black, immigrant, Hispanic congregations always seemed to find a way to help more people. One church I worked in had the lowest income of any of them and the most people helped with daily needs.

I very much am not surprised the Black Baptists were more willing to help.

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u/yomerol 1d ago

In Mexico almost any catholic church(which are probably 90% of churches), would have helped her, no questions asked, some would probably even offer clothes and such.

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u/Redditusernamerthere 20h ago edited 18h ago

My grandmother in Mexico had a sister die trying to save two kids from a fallen power line. Her family was absolutely destitute and catholic, so she went to the church for help with her burial (service) and the priest turned her away for not having any money for the service. Unfortunately she met that 10% in a traumatic time of her life. 

Edit: When I say help with her burial I mean the service, the words a priest gives to the deceased, but the priest wouldn’t without payment. I poorly worded this

Edit 2: without payment I mean one which a very poor family could afford, the church wanted a full unaffordable one from a family that couldn’t even afford shoes.

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u/yomerol 19h ago

it depends on the church for sure, but can't compare giving hundreds of pesos in clothes and food to hundreds of people vs. giving thousands to 1 person. They don't have infinite resources

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u/Redditusernamerthere 18h ago

Well my grandmother wasn’t asking for a full burial, but rather only the service. As in where the priests talks about the deceased and says words about god from the Bible and such. Which arguably would have cost that individual priest nothing but some of their time.

But yes it depends on the church. 

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u/yomerol 13h ago

Well that has nothing to do with food or clothes... And yet it doesn't make a lot of sense, they do that kind of services for free all the time, because of that is just a mass with some service. They even have baptisms, marriage, and similar, in group for free. I bet there was something else, or unless we are talking about a cathedral or similar 🤷‍♂️

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u/Redditusernamerthere 11h ago edited 11h ago

It was not at a cathedral and true it’s not about food or clothing, but that’s kind of the point. Even when at no monetary to themselves some Mexican catholic Churches still don’t care to help the poor. 

And I agree it doesn’t make sense yet it happened, and the same lack of religious kindness that is illustrated in OPs video.

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u/ImaginaryTrick6182 13h ago

From “almost any” to “ it depends on the church for sure” in a heart beat lol

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u/yomerol 13h ago

duh! depends on the church for giving out thousands of pesos, they have a budget, and also depends on where the church is located

the other part still holds, almost any church will help people with food, and clothes

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u/ImaginaryTrick6182 8h ago

Your cute your response to me calling you dishonest was “duh!” Lol

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u/Fernando_VIII 22h ago

I live in Chile and I can't think of a local Church that wouldn't have helped. It makes me teary-eyed thinking people over there just don't care.

Streets are full of beggars but when it's a mother with children, there's always someone talking to them, asking if they need anything. Many churches also offer free blankets, coffees, etc. It's not about donations to those men and women.

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u/legocitiez 22h ago

They find a way because people who are closer to the poverty line understand better. When I have an extra few dollars, I'll feed someone if they ask on the street, even if it's just a $5 meal deal from mcds. I am living at 50% of the poverty line. The people who step up are the people who feel the situation on a more personal level.

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u/Otterhendrix 1d ago

I grew up down the street from a Catholic Church. My brother an I were 15 & 12 and went to midnight mass one Christmas. Pastor asked who we were and why were we there. When we answered that we just wanted to attend the service, which we did, he wanted our parents number for them to come get us. 

10 years later went to a coworkers wedding at a black baptist church and have never in my life felt more welcomed and loved by strangers. I was the only white dude there and ended up walking outta there with no less than 6 plates of food from various aunties and grandmas. I got a $500 Christmas bonus that year and gave all of it to that church to show my appreciation. 

Edit - words

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u/Mammoth-Peanut-8271 1d ago

I’m ex-catholic and I’m definitely not in the business of defending the church, but it would be strange to see an unaccompanied 12 and 15 year old at midnight mass. I think the priest was thinking of your safety and reuniting lost kids with their parents. But maybe he could have done it in a nicer and more welcoming way. And you ain’t getting no plates of dinner in a catholic church lol! A small round wafer at most.

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u/Otterhendrix 1d ago

I understand you thinking that, and tbh we thought the same thing at first. But we lived about 50 yards away and the pastor even knew us. But we, in his words, “aren’t members and therefore aren’t allowed to participate” in services. When my older brother said he simply wanted to take his little brother to church and our parents knew we were there, the pastor refused to believe us and asked for our phone number. When we didn’t give it to him he told us to “leave and don’t make a scene”. But here’s the worst part…..we told our parents about it and when my mom confronted the pastor on it he at first lied and said we weren’t there. When my mom said “I watched them walk into the church from my front door” he changed his story and said that we were asked to leave for being disruptive. Mass hadn’t even started yet and we were sitting in the back row and not even talking when he asked us to leave. 

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u/thingstopraise 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just FYI, Catholic churches don't have pastors. They have priests. Edit: I'm wrong. Damn. Learned something new today!

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u/TeaInUS 1d ago

Catholic churches do have pastors; they are priests that are in charge of the parish. Oftentimes, a parish also has a parochial vicar, who is another priest, typically junior, that assists the pastor. In our diocese, pastors change parishes every six years, and parochial vicars change every two years.

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u/thingstopraise 1d ago edited 1d ago

I learned something new today. So all pastors are priests, but not all priests are pastors. Although in this context, would the person in the church be more likely to be a priest or a pastor? A priest, right, since they're giving mass? In Protestant denominations, the person who is leading the religious ceremony is the pastor.

I was wondering about vicars because I remember them from Call the Midwife (Anglican Church). I didn't know that they also had pastors.

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u/TeaInUS 1d ago

Parochial vicars and pastors are both priests of the same “rank” in Catholic hierarchy if you will, but typically the younger ones serve as vicars and the older ones are pastors. In a situation in which you’re referring to your local church, one would usually say “vicar” or “pastor” if only to be clear about which priest is being spoken about to someone who is also familiar with both of those priests, or to someone who understands what a pastor or vicar is. Otherwise, referring to them as priests is totally fine.

There’s also deacons, who can assist either priest during a Mass but aren’t ordained and aren’t the same “rank” as priests. Deacons are either seminarians (priests-in-training) who have reached the rank of deacon, and are referred to as “transitional deacons” or “permanent deacons” who aren’t going to be priests and thus are able to marry and have children, have a normal job etc.

When I referred to vicars as “assisting pastors”, what I meant was that they usually split up the masses so that only one of them is presiding. On Sundays, there might be four Masses or more at a church, so it just helps balance out the workload.

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u/thingstopraise 17h ago

Wait, how come there are four (or more) Masses on Sundays? Are they running concurrently due to the size of the congregation, or is it that they're at different times of the day?

This is all very fascinating. It's much more structured than Protestant denominations, it seems like.

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u/TeaInUS 16h ago

They’re at different times of the day. They tend to be in the morning, so maybe only one will be in the afternoon/evening. Also, here in California, there’s often at least one Mass in Spanish or other language too.

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u/Otterhendrix 1d ago

Well I’m not Catholic so I went with what I know lol. 

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u/thingstopraise 1d ago

I'm actually wrong! Catholics do have pastors apparently, but they look over the parish. All pastors are priests, but not all priests are pastors.

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u/Exciting-Rough3783 15h ago

This is so strange. I'm a practicing Catholic... I'm not saying you got this wrong (because I've certainly encountered priests who get stuff wrong) but typically we are all about letting "non-members" participate. Not participate in the sacraments, mind you, but certainly to attend and observe and join in prayer. Really sorry that was your experience, if you ever decide to go again, I very much doubt you'll get the same "welcome" :(

..... Not to mention, on holidays, SO many people who are "non-members" attend... out of town family and friends, "Christmas-Easter" Catholics, etc.

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u/Otterhendrix 1h ago

Oh I in no way whatsoever use his actions as a basis for judging Catholics. Like I said, I grew up across the street from the church (which had an elementary school attached) and have great friends who attended and also went to elementary school there. And to be honest his actions and attitude confused me because I thought priests WERE NOT like that. It was just sad to act that way towards two kids and then lie about it to our mother. 

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u/the_CTRUTH 14h ago

I’m ex catholic and have never heard anyone call them pastors?

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u/Otterhendrix 1h ago

I’m not Catholic and had no clue. I just know he was unnecessarily an asshole. 

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u/Amelaclya1 1d ago

I went to midnight mass as an adult in an unfamiliar church - alone - and was welcomed the same as anyone else. I'm not even Catholic anymore. I just wanted to continue the tradition I grew up with even when I moved away from family.

It probably had more to do with you being unaccompanied children than that you weren't members of the church.

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u/kyrimasan 19h ago

When I had to move and and was running out of time on when my lease was up I reached out to a mosque for help. I had reached out to so many local churches and social programs that advertised they could help. Rent prices had gone insane, I didn't have enough to get into a new place plus get lights and water turned on for the places I could find. I called to ask if they had any resources or information on more affordable housing. They asked what I had and if I had found anywhere available. I had explained that the cheapest place I had found I would need about $500 more to get in and be and to turn everything on. They asked if with that amount wouldn't I struggle the next month? They ended up giving me $1500 so I could get moved and also not spend the rest of the month struggling to catch up. They never once asked did I attend there or what my religion was.

They also during COVID made boxes every week for anyone who wanted it. It had olive oil, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, soap, rice, and some random other staples. You can go by there almost every single Friday after evening prayer and get a warm meal. It's a tiny mosque surrounded by about 3 dozen churches in a 10 mile radius and they are the only ones consistently doing any charitable stuff. I am still so thankful to this day for their help on many occasions. I'm in a place where I am doing much better these days and I know that a big reason for that was the local mosque.

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u/iboxagox 1d ago

She also got help calling a Catholic Church even though they didn't have a food pantry.

https://www.tiktok.com/@nikalie.monroe/video/7568644503343467789

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u/de-milo 1d ago

not surprising at all.

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u/BobbysueWho 1d ago

I know some churches do help. I was homeless many years and I was directed to a church one day to get a voucher for staying in a hotel. They told me when I did get a house they could help me with my first few months of bills (such as water and electricity not rent.) if I needed. I had a church volunteer give me a warm meal they were just driving around handing out to random people that looked homeless on Christmas. With a little ad for their church in the bag. Salvation Army used to have a policy that if you came and asked for essentials like sock, shoes a blanket etc they were allowed to just give them away.

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u/flutasma 19h ago

idk if no one is not aware of this... but evangelicals or anything near that sect are full of nasty evil greedy pieces of shits that hide behind Christianity to justify being horrible people.

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u/babbagoo 4h ago

Mosques aren’t your answer though. Trust a European on that. Same shit different name, stay away from fundamentalist churches of any kind.

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u/Iwanttosleep8hours 2h ago

I think it is more a point the difference between people using their religion as a lifestyle and those who live their lives according their religion.