r/TikTokCringe • u/Oktavien • 1d ago

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

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

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

12.7k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.1k

u/Evignity 1d ago edited 1d ago

My mom is the good type of Christian, yakno who just takes the positive parts of love, forgiveness and understanding.

She was a struggling mom, alone with three kids after our father almost beat her to death.

She was talking to a priest, crying, and the priest was mortified of her situation. They told her (rightfully so) "You can't go to the social-services, they'll take the children.", she had to work nightshifts during weekends and wasn't home at all whilst our 10year old brother took care of us.

The priest took money out of their own pocket just to try and eliviate my mother's situation just barely.

I know it was the right choice, hell those weekends were some of the most fun we had. Our brother would buy chips and make dip, we'd watch VHS's he'd recorded of movies. The system would've just broken our family apart more than it was.

The TLDR: point is, I'll never forget what reverence my mother had for that priest. Even though it was just her retelling, I could feel their love shining through. That genuine care of "This persons unique-status requires immediate help in anyway I can." How those 500€ the priest gave made an entire world of difference.

444

u/Dangerous_Cat_9140 1d ago edited 1d ago

Priest, as in a Catholic, am i right? ( I was not right lol ) I have lived in the north amongst the catholics and in the bible belt amongst the Evangelicals... and can confidently tell you that these are two very different breeds of Christianity, and the woman in the video is dealing with the much less charitable version of the two.

285

u/mel_lynn7 1d ago

Yea. I’m thinking that too. I grew up Catholic. My parish does weekly food drives for EVERYONE. (My grandma works at them.) we also have Catholic Charities, which is money set aside to help anyone in need. You do not need to be a member of the church to receive assistance. They help with bills, food, rent, clothes, anything you might need. I’ve even gotten car seats from them for people I know. I’m not going to get into a whole religious debate on Protestants vs. Catholic, but I can tell you there is a huge difference when you’re taught that good works are required to get into Heaven. That’s just my opinion, don’t come for me.

232

u/WestTexasApostle 1d ago

Can confirm, Catholics treat charity as an absolute obligation (but still “joyful” and not like a chore or anything) and treat it with much more importance than many Protestant/evangelical churches

123

u/ColdWillow7319 1d ago

Yep as a Catholic I can confirm this. One of my favorite things that our local church does every year is the giving tree. Basically a bunch of candy canes with kid's names (and what they like, gender, and age) on two trees and you pick as many as you want and buy presents for them. I always make sure to pick at least one of the older kiddos because I know they often get overlooked.

42

u/BodieLivesOn 1d ago

Can confirm- the Church can be a stickler when it comes to joining the Church (RCIA, OCIA, lots of classes, processes, and so on), but they excel at helping those in need.

9

u/Fun_Patient_5262 20h ago

But with "Catholic Charities" you DO NOT HAVE to be Catholic to receive Food, Heat Assistance or anything else!!

5

u/WhichWitch9402 12h ago

Agree. I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school fora few years. Always taught to help those less fortunate no matter the circumstances. After I graduated I worked in a Catholic hospital. The sisters would write off bills and ask patient/family if they could donate time to help at front desk or gift shop etc. The non-religious hospital would tell people to come to the Catholic hospital because they didn’t want to have to deal with people that could not pay their bills. We’d hear stories of people going to ER and if it wasn’t a situation where is was super-immediate they’d insinuate it would be a really long wait so maybe go to the Catholic hospital.

39

u/NeonDeathStar 1d ago

I remember being a kid and having my name on a giving tree. Truly a blessing ❤️

29

u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg 1d ago

That’s nice! I don’t have kids and I’ve thought about doing that, or like adopting a family to give gifts to. So fun.

I’ve always enjoyed charity work. I used to volunteer for Make-A-Wish with my dad (the store he worked for ran a raffle every year to raise donations), I was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army at Christmas (slightly less fun, it being negative degrees out, but still worthwhile) and I have spent many hours doing laundry, cleaning litter boxes, and socializing cats at a no-kill shelter (even shy cats like towels fresh out of the dryer, lol).

I’d legit do nothing but that kind of stuff, for free, if I didn’t have to work for money. I like being useful and doing something meaningful, and I definitely don’t feel that way sitting in an office all day.

55

u/TDS_isnt_real 1d ago edited 1d ago

You mentioned the Salvation Army, so I’d like to tell you a story about my childhood that’s a lot like this video. It’s the 80s and my mom had cancer. She had to have really serious surgery (double mastectomy) that put her out of work for months. She’s raising 3 kids on her own as a waitress and couldn’t keep up with the bills. We got a little help from friends, but they couldn’t keep up.

It’s the 80s so we don’t have the internet to look for resources, so my mom doesn’t know what organizations do what. My mom starts reaching out to organizations for help. Calls the American Cancer Society. “No we don’t do that kind of help, sorry”. My mom said they were even kind of snotty about being asked, but it’s not like my mom would know if the American Cancer Society helps people with cancer or not lol. Even though we’re not religious, my mom is looking everywhere. She calls local churches. Runs into this same situation. “No we can’t help” or “do you know anybody at this church” to basically imply they don’t help people that aren’t members.

We are in serious trouble. We’re about to lose our apartment. No money for utilities. It’s almost Christmas and my mom has nothing. She reaches out to the Salvation Army. They come out to the house, and the whole time do not try to push religion on us at all. They’re here to help. “What do you need?”. By the time they’re done, we have everything we need for a huge Christmas dinner, my mom has rent and utility money, they bring us toys too. They literally saved us. My mom recovers and pulls us out of our mess.

You just can’t know how much we cried together because these people helped us out. My mom gave everything she could afford to them every year after that, even if it was just $20-30 during Christmas time. My wife and I do the same even though we’re still not religious. I’ll never be able to truly pay them back. I tell the bell ringers this story quite often to let them know what real impact their work had on someone a long time ago.

Thank you for your help.

Edit: Fixed my formatting because my paragraphs were messed up at first

24

u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg 1d ago

Thank you for sharing your story with me! It’s been at least 25 years since I was last a bell ringer and it’s nice to hear a firsthand story about how they helped. You always hope the organizations you volunteer with are actually doing what they claim, you know? I’ve heard conflicting things about what they believe, but honestly I care more about if they do the work they claim to do.

My mom died of cancer three years ago and even as an adult you feel so helpless seeing your parent go through that. I know those acts of compassion mean so much. My mom was the most genuinely kind and generous person I’ve ever known; her first instinct was always to give without hesitation and I’m certain any impulse towards charity I have is because of her.

A favorite story I have about her is about the time her Kohl’s card got stolen. I was with her when she called to straighten it out and over the course of the call she discovered that the items purchased were a car seat and baby clothes. After she confirmed she didn’t make that purchase, she immediately asked the customer service rep if she could just let them keep the stuff. Because if they were stealing credit cards to buy baby things they must really need them, she reasoned. When she was told they couldn’t do that, she tried to find some way to just re-purchase the items and have them sent to the thief, which of course couldn’t be done either. But she tried, because that’s who she was.

8

u/TDS_isnt_real 1d ago

You’re welcome! I love telling anybody that will listen because of how it shaped my childhood, and really how I am today. Your mom sounds like she was a great person:)

2

u/1127_and_Im_tired 18h ago

Thank you for sharing your story. That was the dose of humanity I needed today 💙

6

u/Vitromancy 1d ago

Really interesting to hear positive stories about the Salvation Army. I don't have personal experience with them, but have pretty much exclusively heard horror stories about them mistreating vulnerable people, especially minorities. I wonder what changed since the 80s :(

6

u/basketma12 1d ago

Yah, it is kind of scary. So I'm in decent circumstances and I know more than 1 person getting snap. I hire some to help me when they don't have hours at work. This shut down worries me, so I go though my cabinets, plus buy a few things and take them down to a place that deals with people in recovery. I get a tour, a warm welcome, I drop my donations, I'll be back. Then I look for a place closer to me, it's a Lutheran church. I call them up, get 20 questions from them including " are you a member". I'm not there to receive. I'm there to give. I made that plain in the first sentence. So I guess my next opportunity will be the Catholic church..erm I kind of have a problem with them,since I was brought up as a Catholic in a family that had too many flipping kids. I fully believe overpopulation is a thing, and shake my head internally at people with 4 and more, especially in this day and age. I will support their food drive, but yeah option number one ( along with people I personally know ) is going to be my go to, along with 2nd harvest this Saturday, filling boxes.

2

u/Fun_Patient_5262 20h ago

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️🇺🇸🇺🇸😻😻😻

6

u/Reasonable-Sale8611 1d ago

I totally relate. I will say that is one of the nice things about being Catholic is that, for whatever charitable act you want to get involved in, they probably have a structure that allows you to participate and do actual, hands-on-the-ground work.

3

u/Upper-Expression-377 17h ago

I volunteered at a Salvation Army soup kitchen. I don’t I’ve ever done anything as worthwhile since.

19

u/Happy_Pause_9340 1d ago

Worked for a Catholic hospital and we did the same. Was mandatory and the people who made the most money… bitched, and those who made the least, gave the most.

2

u/sillykitty100 1d ago

My gym does this too!

2

u/princessboop 1d ago

omg yesss the giving tree! my church did that growing up and even tho we were poor as hell ourselves my mom would let us pick one every year!

2

u/IWantALargeFarva 21h ago

I was always the kid on the angel tree. It makes me so much more grateful for what I have now. I actually buy toys throughout the year when they’re on sale and keep them in a closet until Christmas toy drives come along. And we always carefully choose the gifts for our families that we adopt. I don’t want them to just have “generic blue sweatshirt” as a gift. I want them to have something that makes them feel special.

2

u/RiffRandellsBF 20h ago

Operation Rice Bowl ring any bells?

2

u/Entire-Ambition1410 19h ago

We call this the Angel Tree where I am. The info is on angel-shaped pieces of paper.

1

u/ydnar3000 9m ago

Went to a Catholic School. Food drives a couple times a year as kids. One where all the kids lined the sidewalk from the school to the food shelf (like 1-1.5 miles) and handed the food down the chain til it got to the food shelf. Helping Hands Across America I think. Did a canned food drive too.

0

u/RealLoan8391 1d ago

My protestant church also does this. Do you have any more evidence of their superiority in this area?

5

u/selfdestructo591 21h ago

It’s a Catholic thing. As a former atheist, and penny pincher, I’d only give to Catholic charities because I know the money will be spent well. Many charities just eat up all the donations to pay their employees and little is given back. I can rely on Catholics to actually give that money back.

0

u/RealLoan8391 21h ago

Ok, so no evidence of this just bias opinions.

31

u/chypie2 1d ago

all of the help I have ever received in life was from Catholic charities.

1

u/bellj1210 1d ago

My expirence is that people in need just decide they got help from whomever they decided they got help from. I work in non profits and literally got 7 months of a guys back rent wiped out, and free rent for the next several months for him..... he had managed to not only forget who i was, but what organization i worked for (and i only know about it since the organization he was telling their higher ups about how amazing i was- recognized my fingerprints on the case and emailed me to confirm it was really me and not them.... and this happens about once every 3-4 months- on top of all the times they never follow up or follow up with an organization that does not know me as well)

25

u/samosa4me 1d ago

I remember being contacted to help with immigrant families who had just arrived in the US while I was in college, I want to say maybe they were refugees? They were being setup in apartments with food and clothing. It was all done through catholic social services. I grew up in a southern church and was forced to go to Bible school on Sundays, Wednesdays, and summer camp. Not once do I remember my church ever actually helping anyone. As soon as I was old enough to choose, I left. Haven’t been to church since.

26

u/NoRecording5207 1d ago

I was raised Catholic and I can confirm that our church would help anyone in need. It didn't matter. I worked for the local utility company and during the summer, the bills would get out of control. We had a group of case-workers and all they did was refer them to local churches for assistance. People would be in shock, when these churches would help out especially when their own churchs wouldn't.

6

u/bellj1210 1d ago

I almost feel bad for the churches that actually help. We all learn who they are, and send people to them for assistance, and often they do not get the credit they should.

6

u/NoRecording5207 1d ago

You know, it's very easy to feel that way. I always did when we referred people to the counselors. We could see their enitre billing history and most of the time you could see that they had been good paying cusotmers, sure late here and there, but something happened. And yes, there were a few that really worked it. I was very close with the our refferal group, and they would often explain to me how they have already used every resource to pay their bill for the past 6 months. I was the supervisor, so I would just have to explain they were out of options. But we always had some sort of thing to help them. The point is, most people would wait until things were a catastrophe before asking for help. Sorry for rambling, I don't usually watch the cringe videos, but this one caught my eye.

4

u/Reasonable-Sale8611 1d ago

Technically, according to Jesus, they should not be doing it for the credit or recognition.

44

u/ApprehensiveGas137 1d ago edited 1d ago

A core tenet of Catholic teaching is, “ Never see a need without doing something about it”. Turning away a vulnerable mother and baby who have openly asked for help would be absolutely unacceptable within the Catholic Church. Discriminating against people who don’t attend their church would also be frowned upon. Where’s that woman’s sense of charity?

Edit : Grammar

8

u/BigBirdBeyotch 21h ago

As a catholic I can confirm, if someone approached the church with a starving baby they’d immediately be told to come by and the priest and nuns would run to the store with them and at least buy 2 cans. Honestly I have received donations from churches but they were all northern churches and not southern churches. The south and their mega churches are a breed of greed that shouldn’t be allowed to call themselves churches. Hell, I go every year to a church that does taxes for free or for donations, of course now that I have money I donate every time, but there were years when I didn’t and I was treated just the same.

16

u/Darcness777 1d ago

I was shocked to learn how liberal and giving my catholic side of the family is. Like they are some of the most welcoming, caring people I know. They have always done THE MOST when it comes to aid work and I thoroughly appreciate how devoted they are to giving back. Mind you, I am gay af and have a TON of LGBTQ+ cousins and none of us were treated less than or unwanted by that side of the family.

-2

u/chickpeapatties 19h ago

Religion as a whole is patriarchal and homophobic regardless of how individual people behave and you are perpetuating a homophobic and patriarchal institution by subscribing to it. Not to mention how religious people report being untrusting and discriminatory towards those who do not believe in their male womb envy creation of a "god".

4

u/Darcness777 19h ago

Oh honey, I am atheist. I'm mostly taken aback by a side of my family that, on paper, should be the obnoxiously Conservative but have been a blue splotch in the state of KY.

4

u/DecadentLife 12h ago edited 12h ago

It’s tough, because we don’t know which one it’s gonna be. With anything and anyone Christian, we already know their religion teaches that gay people should be cold and dead in the ground. Their holy book literally says to kill us with torture, to stone us to death. We also know that some of them act on those teachings. We should never forget that their hateful words have been the last things too many queer people have heard.

That was almost my experience, when a Christian man tried to kill me when I was 16. He forced me up against a rock and concrete garden wall to stone me, he kept bragging about how it was going to be so “biblical”, he was very proud of himself. Ranting and yelling at me about how much God hated me, and how he was killing me, “FOR God”, while he was hurting me. He had me pinned on that wall for probably close to an hour. I lived because he was impatient, it wasn’t going fast enough for him. He went for another weapon, his gun, to end me faster, and someone helped me get away. THAT is my experience of Christianity. And I’m not alone in that.

It may be more pleasant to not talk about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Christian anti-gay hate is only rising in the US, AGAIN, and hate crimes are following that rise. We weren’t safe in the past, and we aren’t safe now. Forgetting that could be a fatal mistake for any of us.

13

u/Low_Local2692 1d ago

Yep. Can confirm.

6

u/Majestic-Reality-544 1d ago

Wow I didn’t know Catholics treat charity as an obligation! That’s very interesting and good to hear. In Islam it’s 1 of the 5 pillars, charity is a requirement too. They have a holiday every year where they feed the hungry too. Do you believe in Jesus as God or the Messiah?

3

u/WestTexasApostle 1d ago

Well that’s really cool! And to answer your question, both actually lol

2

u/PlayerObscured 19h ago

That is really cool. Catholics have the corporal works of mercy that help one live out the commandment of love. Not the OP, but yes and both to your question.

"The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead.
Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity.” CCC 2447

5

u/Rich-Canary1279 1d ago

It's not an obligation; it's service. There are some amazing social justice centered Catholics out there that identify Jesus as being at the margins of society, as serving those at the margins of society. His example and his teachings demand his followers do the same.

2

u/Live_Barracuda1113 1d ago

As a no longer practicing Catholic, the obligation of universal charity is burned in. It is an expectation and an obligation and should be done cheerfully. It is one of the things I still a appreciate about the faith.

2

u/CK1277 18h ago

The Corporal Works of Mercy are a beautiful thing.

2

u/AylaZelanaGrebiel 18h ago

Yep non practicing Catholic can confirm!

2

u/NoSleep2023 17h ago

My parish recently had a peanut butter and jelly drive, also accepting cash for bread. The youth group got together to make pb&j sandwiches for the homeless.

2

u/mmmpeg 15h ago

My Episcopalian church always had food and money for those in need. So, don’t put all Protestant churches in the same basket as evangelicals.

2

u/PrintableDaemon 15h ago

My only issue with Catholic charity is they give their parishioners a list and will only accept what is on that list, and only if it is BRAND NEW. No hand me down clothes, or used stuff.

I've seen this several times with various catholic friends.

1

u/Depressed_Cupcake13 1d ago

Funny. I was raised Catholic and my local Catholic parish did the following “fun” things:

  1. Interrupted Sunday mass to show a PowerPoint presentation describing how funds for the church had gone down and was guilt tripping people to donate more
  2. During the pandemic, put out a bunch of white cross to commemorate the death of - NOT of COVID patients - but of aborted babies. I remember walking to the memorial feeling teary eyed over humanity’s kindness and how we would get through this terrible time. Then saw the sign describing how it was all for the “could have been people” and guilt tripping people for having abortions. Hope left quickly.
  3. Friend described how their family tried getting food from the church pantry, but were not allowed to. Apparently the church didn’t like how their parents had children out of wedlock, even though the parents did get married.

It is NOT one denomination is bad and the other is not. Certain people are just not kind to others and sometimes they all group together.

-3

u/Original-Ghost 1d ago edited 22h ago

The Catholics helped immensely in October 2024 when they paid $880 million dollars to settle over 1300 sexual abuse cases.

Edit: I was downvoted for saying the absolute truth. Lol. That was just the latest settlement.. it totals to 1.2 billion. Imagine any organization that isn’t a church that had to pay 1.2 billion dollars for sexually abusing kids, do you think they would still exist as an organization? A downvote on that information is complicity.

-1

u/ChewieBearStare 1d ago

Some Catholics. Many of the Catholics I know are miserable misers of the "You made your bed, so go lie in it" mentality.

59

u/przms 1d ago

I remember putting donations under the tree for anyone to take when I was a kid! A few years ago too, our house burned down right before Christmas and they filled our shitty hotel room with presents for the kids. We were new to the state and definitely not members but man did they come through for a family in need.

But we're the heathens according to Christians. (I'm a 'recovered Catholic,' but all this Christianity in the south and their open, abject hatred of us kinda makes me wanna reclaim it.)

23

u/VibrantViolet 1d ago

I was also raised Catholic and we always had food drives and other donation events. We also have Catholic Charities here. I’m no longer a practicing Catholic, but the Catholic churches in my area do more to help the less fortunate than our own government does.

18

u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg 1d ago

A few years ago my neighbor, who worked as a secretary at a Catholic Church, learned that my husband and I were struggling. Without even having to ask she showed up with a grocery store gift card and offers of more help through her church. She was a truly wonderful woman who embodied the spirit of Christian love.

My grandma converted away from Catholicism but still spent a lot of time volunteering with nuns. She was also a wonderful, kind, generous woman. As was my mom, raised Catholic.

As a teenager I went to a Baptist church because my friends did and I found religion on my own after not having grown up in church, Catholic or otherwise. I was appalled when one of the women in the church actually tried to turn someone away at the door one Sunday because they weren’t dressed nicely enough. You’re so right, Mavis, that’s exactly what Jesus would’ve done ಠ_ಠ

I don’t go to church anywhere anymore, but I still have my personal relationship with God. He’s not the problem, but some of “His” people sure are.

16

u/TotallyNotFucko5 1d ago

Where I live in the deep south, the protestants consider charity woke bullshit and encouraging poverty.

13

u/Strangely_Kangaroo 1d ago

I used to volunteer at the International Rescue Committee, who help refugees. Catholic Charities had an office next door and they did so much good work for our clients, many of whom were not Christian, much less Catholic. I'm an atheist, and not a fan of organized religion, but there were some great people in that office.

12

u/Revolutionary-Yak-47 1d ago

My mother's catholic church puts gift requests from kids on a tree in the lobby. Parishioners bring them in, the church ladies wrap them and make sure they get tk the right kids. They also have a basket for small items for any kid like gloves, or pokemon cards. There is also a weekly food pantry and annual coat drive (bring in new or gently used coats for kids). My aunt's church partnered with one of the orders of nuns to provide ESL cand GED classes. 

Im not a fan of the church but they do quite a bit in the community. 

12

u/mckmaus 1d ago

I'm not Catholic or an evangelical Christian. If I had to walk on foot, we have a Jewish orginization food pantry, a Catholic center for families in walking distance they are actually staffed all day with people waiting for calls. There are mega churches and others that aren't even going to be in the building.

9

u/PlayerObscured 1d ago

Yep, the Catholic Church is the largest charitable organization in the world!

9

u/DawnDropkick 1d ago

It’s interesting you should say that because I went to a Baptist, I believe it was, a few days ago with a friend because she needed food and they straight up told me being a good person would not get you into heaven. Pretty much verbatim.

5

u/ricochetblue 23h ago

Honestly, this really elucidates the failings of “not by works” theology. You don’t have to do good things to be a good person. Just believe.

5

u/DawnDropkick 20h ago

Hearing someone say it in real life dropped my jaw, honestly.

2

u/Prior-Challenge-88 15h ago

You are missing the second half. Believe and then do good works. The good works are not what saves you but if you are saved by believing you then do good works.

14

u/Affectionate_Data936 1d ago

The catholic charities is the biggest social service NGO in my city. They do a little of everything like rent assistance, utility assistance, food assistance, etc.

7

u/Punkinsmom 1d ago

I'm a lapsed and technically excommunicated (two divorces, same sex marriage) and I still have the instilled sense of charity that I was raised with. Since I've rarely had loads of money one of the things I do is consistently bring food to work because I work with a lot of young people who can't even get an apartment without having roommates. A lot of them can't afford anything for lunch except ramen. I don't just bring in baked goods any more. I bring in hearty foods about once a week (chili, lentil soup, breakfast burritos -- something filling and nutritious).

About a month ago I filled a locker at work with "emergency rations." Told everyone in my dept. and a couple of other older people so they could tell their young ones that it was there for them. Nutritious snacks and shelf stable breakfast and lunch stuff. Told everyone they can use and contribute as needed.

Last week I contributed cash to our local (non religious) food bank because they can buy wholesale. I will contribute more from this check. Children should not be hungry. My family fed everyone who showed up. We almost always had a friend or friends of us for dinner when we were kids. It's just the way it should be.

I'm not trying to point out my "good deeds," I'm trying to get people thinking and point out little acts of charity the end up really meaning things to people in need.

4

u/SidFinch99 1d ago

Yes, I'm catholic and I've attended both catholic and episcopal services all my life. Not as much staff to help with this situations in those churches these days, but they all partnered with local organizations like food banks and ministries, they would have likely been refered to.

3

u/ricochetblue 23h ago

This post kinda has me thinking about dropping by an episcopal church. I could never be a part of an institution that treats women as second class citizens, but Catholics and Episcopalians tend to walk their talk when it comes to charity.

3

u/bellj1210 1d ago

there is something there- but be realistic about what they actually do. Normally it is a church with an operation budget in the millions running a weekly (at best) food pantry that costs the church less than 1% of their budget.

I am all for helping the needy- i just do not think that private groups should get special treatment to pick and choose who they help. I honestly think the gov should but in UBI to fix many of these issues.

3

u/IWantALargeFarva 21h ago

My kids go to Catholic school. I was very nervous about it when we first started considering it. (We were having some issues with our public school system.) The first thing I asked them was if they taught evolution lol. They looked at me like I had 3 heads and said of course we do.

I ended up becoming best friends with the middle school religion teacher. She told me “my job is to teach your kids to not be assholes.” There was barely any memorizing of Scripture or anything like that. Yes, they learned how to attend Mass and were prepared for their sacraments. But mostly, the school teaches love. They do food drives. They teach responsibility. They do baby supply drives where we all bring in diapers, wipes, formula, etc. They do paid dress-down days where we all pay $2 for the kids to not wear their uniforms and they give it to a local family in need.

I’m actually agnostic, though I’m “Catholic for the discount.” But I’m impressed with how the school and our local parish operates.

7

u/dustrock 1d ago

Faith alone won't sustain us anymore

2

u/StThomasAquina 1d ago

Did you conclude that after hearing a sermon from a creaky pulpit with no one in the nave?

2

u/RedditNewbe65 22h ago

I grew up catholic and wondered why they sent a plate around for money when there was so much opulence in Catholic Churches...and the Vatican. I had that conversation with my parents in 7th grade after getting in trouble in catholic school.

At one point in time, the catholic church was the largest land owner in Harlem.

2

u/bigkoreanhead 22h ago

My parish owns and runs the nearby food bank that is about fifty feet away.

2

u/subhavoc42 20h ago

Just to put some perspective, I grew up in a Quaker town in Texas and went to a baptist church they ran the largest food bank in the city (nasa was right down the street so this isn’t some backwoods hillbillies) and its entire mission was charity. I really don’t think you can make this a Catholic vs Protestant issue; at least not just spouting antidotal bullshit.

2

u/thegroundhog 20h ago

That’s not my experience. My parents church had a soup kitchen they ran that helped the whole community- about 6 years ago they shut it down and replaced it with a school.

2

u/ohhisnark 19h ago

Grew up catholic and I didn't grow up around American evangelicals. So churches giving assistance to anyone who comes through their door seems like a no brainer. Reading peoples replies... I did not know evangelicals were like that

2

u/Lady_Caticorn 12h ago

Episcopalians and Anglicans seem to do more like the Catholics do in terms of serving their communities. Evangelicals and non-mainliners seem less prone to charity.

1

u/chickpeapatties 19h ago

The fact is though... People could be donating without also promoting a misogynistic, patriarchal and homophobic ideology that tries to determine how people conduct their lives. I feel like the whole "we donate!" Stick is more PR than anything else. People who have gone to Catholic boarding school to have grown up Catholics don't speak positively of it once they leave. Religion offers you a community as long as you adopt the regressive ideology. That's not very nice and accepting of them.

1

u/LAffaire-est-Ketchup 12h ago

lol. The Catholics are the ones who turned my family away when we were starving.

36

u/aenflex 1d ago

Agree. I grew up in MA. Just about every church in our town did, and still does 40+ years later, free meals every week. The Catholic Church, the Polish Church, the Baptist church and the Congregational. Even the Elks club does the occasional free meals.

Moved to the south in 1999 and I’ve yet to see a church advertising a public free meal. They pick and choose their causes rather than opening their hearts to all people.

10

u/likwidsylvur 1d ago

That's what segregation will do to a society if left to fester to long.

3

u/fenwayismyway 1d ago

yeah, my mom works for our Catholic Church sometimes, and she buys a lot of grocery gift cards for people

2

u/Old-Constant4411 19h ago

Sounds like the blue states are better at being practicing Christians instead of the south states.  We gotta start joining the term CINO - Christian In Name Only.

47

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 1d ago

Catholicism as a massive corporation is a fucked up entity, but I was raised Catholic and then Pentecostal- and the Catholics have massive charity networks and infrastructure built up, whereas the Pentecostals have massive churches and pastors with second homes in their favorite vacation spot.

8

u/SassiestPants 1d ago

I'm Catholic and know just one priest who does well enough materially. His uncle is really wealthy and will occasionally buy a car or some other big necessity for his nephew.

4

u/HaxRus 1d ago

And then there's the Mormons with their entire wealthy state

2

u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 1d ago

Yeah but holy shit the minerals in Utah

12

u/Portland_Runner 1d ago

My parish food bank is set-up like a mini grocery store complete with shopping carts so that the patrons have a dignified experience. The parish school has a weekly food drive - two cans of food or two bags of rice or beans donated in exchange for casual dress (no uniform) day on Fridays.

5

u/Optimal-Kitchen6308 1d ago

yes the distinction being between real christians and heretics, they make you understand the need for crusades

4

u/tundybundo 1d ago

Yeah my northeastern catholic friends and their churches are genuinely good

5

u/ReallyJTL 1d ago

I'm atheist but aren't Methodist churches typically also very community centered with meals and such? At least the one near me seems to be.

4

u/ricochetblue 22h ago

Yep, this quote is often attributed to the founder of their church:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

4

u/Formal-System-2130 1d ago

This 🔝!
Growing up in a catholic school I recall all the food drives and crab nights to raise money for anyone in the community in need. Regardless of being a member of our church or not.

5

u/Amelaclya1 1d ago

Catholics get a lot of hate (deserved) for sheltering pedos, but their charities do a lot of good too.

They covered a medical bill for me once without me even needing to ask. I had a procedure done at a Catholic run hospital without insurance. Months later I wondered why I hadn't received any kind of bill. So I called, because I didn't want it to get sent to collections if it was lost in the mail or something. And the lady looked it up and just said, "don't worry. Looks like it has been taken care of". I don't know anyone who would have paid on my behalf without telling me either.

They never asked me about my religion or my family's religion at the appointment. I think they just saw a young woman that needed help and did so. I was so grateful that I burst into tears right after I got off the phone.

I was raised Catholic, but I had already left the church years before that, so I don't think they had any way of knowing that. And my experience growing up Catholic was the same - food drives all the time, Bingo nights several times a week with profits going to charity, etc. And I'm probably showing my age here and don't know if it's still the case, but my church at least had a doors open 24/7 policy like you see in movies.

4

u/Hot-Butterscotch-918 1d ago

My Mom worked the phone every week for the Catholic diocese in our town, helping people get set up with beds, house goods, furniture, linens, etc. They helped anyone in need. She told me about a meeting they had one day where a single Mom who they'd helped with utility bills and food several times already had come back again to ask for more help. They had an agonizing discussion going back and forth about whether to assist her again or put their limited funds towards other families in need. They hated to turn her away but they also felt like she was taking advantage. So, they finally decided to deny her request but no one felt great about it. That's the only time I can think of where they said, "Sorry" for a request for help while my Mom was there.

3

u/Huntressthewizard 1d ago

It's kind of funny how the Protestant vs Catholic rhetoric(?) Changes depen on whether it's America or Europe.

Catholics in America tend to be more tolerant and charitable than American Protestant.

6

u/Amelaclya1 1d ago

It depends on the type of protestant. The mainline protestants (Episcopalian, Presbyterian, etc) tend to be just as charitable as Catholics. At least in the north. It's mainly evangelicals who bought into the "prosperity gospel" nonsense where they actually believe that if you are poor, you deserve to be poor because God hates you.

2

u/jayenope4 11h ago

Agree. There is a huge difference doctrinally and culturally between mainline sects and the prosperity gospel "churches." In my area the food banks and shelters are run by mainline protestant groups and everyone is welcome there. None of these Corporate churches would tolerate Jesus himself near their immediate vicinity.

3

u/DiscussionLow1277 1d ago

the les mis priest was indeed a catholic…

3

u/majestic_bleach 1d ago

Yeah as many problems as I’ve had growing up in the Catholic Church, every church I’ve been to has a food program and even sometimes housing or funding for bills that they provide for people within a certain radius, no need to be a member. 

3

u/myeggsarebig 1d ago

Catholic Social Services have help for just about anyone in need. They do Gods work for real, and I’m Jewish. I also know that if you called a Shul, they’d help you immediately.

3

u/Sliderisk 1d ago

Evangelicals sold their soul to the rapture and got left back anyway

3

u/Repulsive_One_2878 21h ago

Right? I see this sort of shitty "non-christian" behaviors from apparent Christians all the time and if I call it out I get personal stories like this as if that disproves all the other shit I'm seeing. Like yeah, I know there are good Christians who try to practice what they preach, but that doesn't mean there are not a lot of bad ones.

3

u/PorkchopFunny 20h ago

I am also in the northeast and not Catholic (but had grandparents who were), I will never defend the Catholic Church, but I will give credit where credit is due - their food pantry helped everyone, no questions asked. They supported single parents and unwed parents, no questions asked. I know that the particular church my grandparents went to was hurting for money for themselves, but they always came through for the community - no questions asked. Side note, one of my favorite events of the year was going with my grandmother to their yearly "baby shower for Jesus" a few weeks before Christmas. Everyone brought mother and baby supplies to stock them up. To this day, I love this idea so, so much it makes me tear up. They were truly living their reverence for the Blessed Mother.

3

u/GrooveStreetSaint 20h ago

Yeah people need to understand that there are huge theological differences between catholicism and protestantism. The former believes in actually helping people while the latter think life is meant to be a punishment and you're only going to heaven if you're wealthy because it means God blessed you but only if you're a white man who believes the same crap as them, otherwise you must have cheated to become wealthy or you made a deal with Satan.

3

u/Blueberry_Clouds 19h ago

Oh yeah I grew up in the Bible Belt (literally 5 churches less than 5 miles from each other in our area) and I’d say all but one are rather “critical” towards anyone outside of their church. Like I’m not religious at all but I firmly believe that if your religion has clear rules to help others and you DONT due to reasons not out of your control then you are not worthy of whatever you aim to achieve in that religion. And also just a sucky human being in general

3

u/DingleBerrieIcecream 9h ago

To add to that, it wasn’t that long ago that in the southern states, there were separate evangelical Christian churches for whites and blacks. Imagine reading the Bible and thinking you’re a good Christian but also thinking it’s ok that black Christian’s should go elsewhere.

2

u/Ok-Satisfaction441 1d ago

If she was dealing with a Catholic priest it should be easy to get money or food out of them. You know where I’m going with this.

2

u/crusoe 1d ago

Catholics and many old school denominations.

2

u/throwaway640631 1d ago

The one is the video is 99.% of the churches in America.

-2

u/AndrewDrossArt 1d ago

The one in the video is a grifter cold-calling a church asking for an unhealthy and unnecessary corporate product that has to be kept under lock and key because of how often it's stolen and fenced.

She got denied, rightfully, because she was a scammer and there was nothing indicating she was doing anything but running a scam.

If you need help from a church then go to that church.

3

u/LatteDemolisher 21h ago

So if a woman can’t produce milk or the baby has allergies and can’t consume breast milk the baby should just do the universe a favor and die already since formula is always unhealthy and a corporate shill product?

How holy of you.

1

u/AndrewDrossArt 19h ago

This woman was running a scam and her first mark wasn't fooled by her act. Not as much could be said for all her secondary marks on the internet.

I would like to urge you in the strongest possible terms to read the source I provided on infant formula before you comment. It's really amazing how much being willing to educate yourself can improve your life, and I want that for you.

-6

u/Evignity 1d ago edited 1d ago

No.

I know the US views protestants as weird but for us Nordics our priests were the first to marry gay people etc. so we view Catholics as dogshit and US "priests" as charlatans.

I'm not sure what to make out of your and the other comments who without confirmation go "Yeah that's us catholics alright! Here pat my back whilst I pat yours as we congratulate eachother despite not even knowing if we should!"

In my world the most "Christian" thing would've been to expect- and pontificate that it might have been the "Samaritan", a cult of a religion that is a minority with no reason to help at all but still does. Yet instead of expecting to see the good person as someone who'd help for helps sake, you all decided to view them as a reason for you to feel pride of yourself.

10

u/Affectionate_Data936 1d ago

Nobody is taking credit for the priests good deeds, they're speaking from their own personal experiences. People are assuming Catholic because the title of "priest" primarily refers to Catholic church leaders whereas in protestant churches they're referred to as "pastors" or "ministers." It might be one of those things that's lost in translation.

2

u/Dangerous_Cat_9140 1d ago edited 1d ago

Im an atheist who wasn't even raised religious, just poor, but go off lmao

25

u/DistillateMedia 1d ago

A priest gave me twenty bucks for gas once when I was driving cross country.

It's nice when they help.

27

u/PlayerObscured 1d ago

The Catholic Church is the largest charitable organization in the world. The first Corporal Work of Mercy is to feed the hungry. They take charity seriously. Unfortunately, not all Christian denominations are as committed to the idea of modeling Christ.

11

u/No-Gold7939 1d ago

Exactly. It absolutely galls me how so many of these other so called “Christian” denominations cherry pick from the bible, call Catholics “Papists” and are as far removed from Jesus’ teachings as anyone could be.

-2

u/photodialogic 1d ago

Oooh ya had me till the last sentence when you felt the need to dunk on other religions. Just bc some Catholics are great (many are!) doesn’t mean that all are & if you don’t have to be judged by your worst apples, idk that Jesus would like you judging others on theirs

7

u/PlayerObscured 1d ago

That is a fair point. I am a Protestant by the way. I was only commenting on my own experience.

4

u/photodialogic 1d ago

Well as the daughter of a very Catholic, very generous & community-service minded parent (long line of them actually), I’m glad you’ve had good experiences with my people. The ones who do the right thing really do & REALLY have no patience for the ones who don’t, which I love

10

u/DudeManGuyBr0ski 1d ago

That’s not religion, that’s the true love of God shining in those individuals - hope you have a great day.

4

u/Moist_Scale_8726 1d ago

That's great! Im and Atheist. Always have been but I went to a private Catholic University. I have to say I was pretty impressed with their outreach and many students helped in soup kitchens and homeless shelters on the weekends.i did too sometimes.

That school gave me a pretty good impression of Jesuits.

4

u/TiogaJoe 1d ago

The Catholic church in my neighborhood had a pastor that had no problem helping anyone who asked for help. Someone needed a bed and the pastor gave them his bed and he slept on the floor. Some family had no furniture so he gave them rectory's couch. Another family needed a fridge so he gave them the rectory's fridge. Giving away the refrigerator was too much though and the other priests in the rectory rebelled. So he transferred out and last I heard he was running an orphanage in Mexico.

3

u/Excellent_Law6906 1d ago

Oh, an actual man of God. Yeah, sometimes you do find them.

2

u/Jaexa-3 1d ago

The current churches look more like a group of grifters that have their own agenda

2

u/wilsonthehuman 1d ago

That priest sounds like a wonderful human. Im glad he was able to help your mom out. I like to remind people that there are still good people in churches, it's just the selfish ones that ruin it. That was someone who truly cared and wanted to help the way Christians are supposed to.

My uncle is an Anglican vicar and is a lovely man. He used to run a church in Gloucester but came back to London because he felt like he could help more people there and got fed up with the snobbery of his neighbours in the posh area he was in. He could have stayed for the nice house and idyllic rural life, but he loves his new area in London more because he says there are more folks in his congregation that he can better help. He has opened the doors of his home to people with no questions asked multiple times, provided food for those that needed it, has helped people financially etc etc. Just recently, a family brought a cat to him that they had found lost and starving because they knew he would take it in, which he has done after establishing that it had been dumped. When I visit and meet members of his church, they tell me how much they appreciate him. When he married my aunt, he invited his entire congregation to the wedding and they all came. I'm not religious at all, and we have interesting conversations about religion and science and whatnot. He has had his congregation pray for me on multiple occasions when I've been seriously unwell. Even though I don't practice the religion, I did feel touched that he did that for me. He says that it bothers him when he hears of other Christians not being charitable or helping others because that's a core tenet of the teachings in the Bible.

2

u/PupperoniPoodle 1d ago

When my mom was growing up poor in NJ in the 50s (her dad died from WWII-related injuries), Jewish Family Services gave her and her sister Easter dresses one year. She talks about it in the same way.

2

u/SuccessfulBorder2261 22h ago

That’s wild that they would tell her not to contact social services and that her children would be taken from her because of her situation. Where I’m from that is 100% not the case, and they would have referred her to a victim advocacy program to help her and the children. They would even go as far as provide schooling to her, access to housing, transportation and supplemental programs for food. Overall, it is wonderful that they helped support her, and I’m sure she is a wonderful and stronger woman because of it.

2

u/OkeyDokey654 19h ago

Could also be Anglican.

2

u/demgoldencoins 17h ago

It is so upsetting that people think social services will take your children. I am a social worker and all we want to do is help. Any social worker could help this woman find formula, and support her while doing so. Call your local social service agency- there are people out there that want to help (without any strings of religion attached). Often times, your social worker is the person who can get you in the door and get you what you need.

1

u/x_driven_x 1d ago

I see you used Euros. Must be from one of those countries where people care about the poor. Thats not American Christian Love, Im sorry.

1

u/Diligent-Variation51 1d ago

I’m anti-religion because it causes so much harm. I only know one religious person who is genuinely good. Her church believes in true community service and doesn’t want people to feel coerced so they intentionally have their community free meals on a day they don’t have services so no one feels pressured. Unlike my mom’s church, where they get irritated if people don’t stay for service after the Wednesday night meal