Bob CollinsThe news isn’t so much that the pope had lunch with the homeless, mentally ill, and addicted. It’s that the politicians didn’t.
The National Catholic Reporter writes:
This talk will not get the coverage that the pope’s address to Congress received. But, I suspect the images of him with the homeless at Catholic Charities will reverberate, and every pastor in the land should copy and distribute his remarks at St. Patrick’s in their parish bulletins. We have been reading from the Epistle of St. James the last few Sundays, and the pope’s linkage of faith with a heart that does not accept nor grow indifferent to suffering and injustice is the best homily you are going to hear on the themes that St. James articulates.
The pope had the option of staying on Capitol Hill and having a fancy luncheon with the politicians and the powerful. Like Jesus, he chose to seek out the powerless and the poor. Like Jesus, he seemed to be more joyful at the latter destination. Can we U.S. Catholics say the same about ourselves?
