Putting our money to work for neediest

Ill-informed critics of the Church often level this charge: "If Catholics really cared about [blanks], they would do something to help [blanks], not just talk about them."

It is an age-old accusation: Religious people are hypocrites who talk a lot about the poor, the homeless, migrant workers and immigrants (just some of the nouns that could be inserted above in place of "blank"), but the faithful don't actually do anything to remedy their situations.

The charge could be refuted in many ways, but one of the most prominent is simply to point to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (see related story). For years, the CCHD has literally been putting Catholics' money where their mouths are by supporting self-help programs that provide the needy with a way to help themselves out of their plight.

The annual collection for CCHD comes the weekend before Thanksgiving, an apt time for us to measure how thankful we are by assisting those who have fewer blessings.

(11-18-99)