FOR the Poor on Prince Edward Island

What specific action can I take to demonstrate that I am for the poor?

St. Francis renouncing worldly wealth

During his visit to the hilltop town of Assisi in October, 2013, Pope Francis, stated his vision for the Catholic Church and highlighted it with four main goals, the first of which is “A Church that is poor and for the poor.”  On Prince Edward Island, some of the issues associated with this goal are food insecurity, a livable income for all, and poverty eradication. 

At our January fraternity meeting, we presented this first goal and fraternity members agreed to accept this challenge for the February meeting: Since we are Church, what specific action can I take this month to demonstrate that, as a Franciscan, I am for the poor?  Our fraternity members have agreed to bring their written, anonymous responses to the February 9 meeting and place them in a box.  At this meeting, we will read aloud several of the responses and later publish all of them in our newsletter. We will share them with you here too.

We used this text for our January meeting (excerpts taken from The Guardian, October 5, 2013) :

While in Assisi, Pope Francis had lunch with a group of poor at a soup kitchen after demanding that the faithful “strip” themselves of their worldly attachment to wealth, which he said is killing the Church and its souls.  He delivered that exhortation during the most evocative stop of the day, in the simple room where St. Francis stripped off his clothes, renounced his wealth and vowed to live a life of poverty.

Since becoming pope in March, Francis has made it clear that one of his principal objectives is a church that is humble, looks out for the poorest and brings them hope.  The “slum pope”, as he is known because of his work in Argentina’s shanty-towns, recently denounced the idolatry of money and encouraged those without the “dignity” of work.

From the St. Francis of Assisi JPIC Comm.
(Mike C., Doug H., Louise L., Marion M.)