Jesus and the homeless v. the Catholic Church

[Rhea]

A Catholic cathedral in San Francisco installed a watering system in an attempt to soak homeless people who try to loiter and sleep near its doorways,

The spigot is 30 feet up on the ceiling of the doorway alcove and when it spews water, the alcove and unsuspecting homeless people reportedly get soaked. According to KCBS, the water runs for about 75 seconds every 30-60 minutes.

Archdiocese spokesman Chris Lyford told KCBS that the church refers the homeless to charities for housing but noted that they keep coming back. “We do the best we can, and supporting the dignity of each person," he said. "But there is only so much you can do.”

Luckily, the Godless Sodomite Cesar (SF City Hall) is making them take it down.



http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/san-francisco-cathedral-homeless-water


There is just all kinds of awesome in this. From the idolatry to the materialism to protecting the materialism from defilement by coarseness right on down to "supporting dignity" by spraying water (during a severe drought) on them like stuck dogs in heat.

Fucking awesome.

 

[bilby]

How very Christian of them.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Jesus and the Homeless? What would Jesus say about the homeless?

'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the doorways
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you poured bleach on your surplus food,
that i might not eat out of a dumpster; I was thirsty, and you
charged 25 cents for a dixie cup of water; I was a stranger, and
you invited Me to use city services; naked, and you chased Me;
I was sick, and you turned the sprinklers on Me; I was in prison,
and you complained about me watching sports on the Big Screen TV.'

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, at least they're only spraying the defenceless and innocent people who come to them for help with water as opposed to anally raping them. It's a step forward for the Catholic Church.

We can't, after all, expect them to just become completely non-evil all at once.

 

[ideologyhunter]

I think they should send a huge macho nun out to tase them.

 

[Underseer]

At least they stopped setting people on fire for disagreeing with them. We should celebrate the small victories.

 

[Perspicuo]

Let's play a game... How many charities for the homeless can you find on this page:

http://www.catholiccharities.net/GetHelp/OurServices/Homelessness.aspx

And it doesn't list all of them. I fear the OP is using ambiguous language about Catholics. If there is one thing that would be just wrong to criticize Catholics about is their charity. I'll be darned if any other group is more devoted to helping people in need, despite their many and profound shortcomings.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I think they should send a huge macho nun out to tase them.

For us old timers who went to catholic grade schools that's nightmarishly familiar. Luckily for us the tazer hadn't been invented. We just got whupped on with one of those pointers or a paddle up their arm sleeve. Those she hounds could bring it.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Let's play a game... How many charities for the homeless can you find on this page:

http://www.catholiccharities.net/GetHelp/OurServices/Homelessness.aspx

And it doesn't list all of them. I fear the OP is using ambiguous language about Catholics. If there is one thing that would be just wrong to criticize Catholics about is their charity. I'll be darned if any other group is more devoted to helping people in need, despite their many and profound shortcomings.

The Diocesan Bishop lives like royalty in these parts. I would not disagree with the spokesperson in the OP that 'there is only so much you can do.' I know generous catholics and generous non catholics. I do not think Catholicism itself is very generous. In fact I see it as just the opposite.

 

[Kharakov]

In reality, the church cannot afford a system that feeds, shelters, and clothes all of the homeless. Even if they did it for a few years, their coffers would run dry as more and more people realized "hey, working at this dead end job is pointless- it sustains the lifestyles of those in higher positions in the hierarchy, but offers absolutely no chance of advancement to me, and the church will give me everything I need."

You can't expect a bunch of people trained to mentally masturbate about heaven to recklessly part with the wealth that provides themselves with the physical comfort necessary to devote time to their mental masturbation.

 

[Underseer]

Let's play a game... How many charities for the homeless can you find on this page:

http://www.catholiccharities.net/GetHelp/OurServices/Homelessness.aspx

And it doesn't list all of them. I fear the OP is using ambiguous language about Catholics. If there is one thing that would be just wrong to criticize Catholics about is their charity. I'll be darned if any other group is more devoted to helping people in need, despite their many and profound shortcomings.

So if you do a lot of charity, then you can humiliate and dehumanize homeless people and it's never wrong?

 

[Keith&Co.]

If there is one thing that would be just wrong to criticize Catholics about is their charity. I'll be darned if any other group is more devoted to helping people in need, despite their many and profound shortcomings.

I think in this case, the spokesperson for the Cathedral is the one whose language is at fault. Chris' statement seems, to me, to indicate that he (she?) feels that the Cathedral is separate and apart from any charity they refer the homeless towards. Certainly there's little evidence of sympathy for the homeless there.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I think the best way to think about this issue is that if those in the Catholic business have extra money they may spend it taking care of homeless people and doing other charitable work. But it's not something high on their priority list.

 

[Perspicuo]

Let's play a game... How many charities for the homeless can you find on this page:

http://www.catholiccharities.net/GetHelp/OurServices/Homelessness.aspx

And it doesn't list all of them. I fear the OP is using ambiguous language about Catholics. If there is one thing that would be just wrong to criticize Catholics about is their charity. I'll be darned if any other group is more devoted to helping people in need, despite their many and profound shortcomings.

The Diocesan Bishop lives like royalty in these parts. I would not disagree with the spokesperson in the OP that 'there is only so much you can do.' I know generous catholics and generous non catholics. I do not think Catholicism itself is very generous. In fact I see it as just the opposite.

Are you agreeing with me and just venting your ire, or are you disagreeing with ire?

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The Diocesan Bishop lives like royalty in these parts. I would not disagree with the spokesperson in the OP that 'there is only so much you can do.' I know generous catholics and generous non catholics. I do not think Catholicism itself is very generous. In fact I see it as just the opposite.

Are you agreeing with me and just venting your ire, or are you disagreeing with ire?

I'm disagreeing with your sentiment that the Church Catholic does charitable work above and beyond what other organizations do. I think that's what you were saying. The vast majority of "charitable" work catholics do is within their own parishes and for their own well being. And the vast, vast amount of revenues their church spends is on these things.

If a pastor was found to be spending the lion's share of his money sheltering the homeless and not taking care of the parish needs he wouldn't last long.

 

[Perspicuo]

You forget the RCC is not only diocesan priests.

https://www.franoutreach.org/shelter/
http://www.stmarysfs.org/about.php
https://www.stfrancisbreadline.org/
http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/our-work/ministries/homeless/

And those are just a few of the ones with websites. Most are so poor they don't have websites. I know firsthand they work their fingers to the bone. Too much, too much for your cynical dismissal of what they do. I get it--you hate the RCC. I don't give a shit if you do. I know too well what I'm talking about to give it.

 

[Keith&Co.]

You forget the RCC is not only diocesan priests.

https://www.franoutreach.org/shelter/
http://www.stmarysfs.org/about.php
https://www.stfrancisbreadline.org/
http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/our-work/ministries/homeless/

And those are just a few of the ones with websites. Most are so poor they don't have websites. I know firsthand they work their fingers to the bone. Too much, too much for your cynical dismissal of what they do. I get it--you hate the RCC. I don't give a shit if you do. I know too well what I'm talking about to give it.

So, you're saying that the people who piped the Cathedral aren't REAL catholics?

 

[funinspace]

You forget the RCC is not only diocesan priests.

https://www.franoutreach.org/shelter/
http://www.stmarysfs.org/about.php
https://www.stfrancisbreadline.org/
http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/our-work/ministries/homeless/

And those are just a few of the ones with websites. Most are so poor they don't have websites. I know firsthand they work their fingers to the bone. Too much, too much for your cynical dismissal of what they do. I get it--you hate the RCC. I don't give a shit if you do. I know too well what I'm talking about to give it.

First, I am not trying to dis the RCC. They among others do quite a bit helping those in need worldwide. One of the difficulties in trying to discern just how much the RCC spending on actually helping those in need is their lack of transparency, never mind their ancient and huge international presence. They have tons of old buildings that are quite underutilized, and that must cost them a mint. The RCC also operates huge medical and educational institutions, and I don’t see anything that would help one break down what part is for helping the needy verses just providing good services for fair prices.

With that said, I can speak about what I saw years ago at the United Methodist Church (UMC) and their main charity arm UMCOR, which are far more transparent than the RCC. FWIW I’ve been on a local church’s budgetary board. UMCOR is interesting in that essentially 100% of the donations go to programs to help people worldwide (not promoting their faith). The UMC body fronts the money necessary for overhead/administrative functions. So non-Methodists or non-Christians can donate to UMCOR w/o feeling like they are promoting Methodism so much. With that said, I would presume that the UMC is much like many other churches/sects. When one digs down thru the budgetary details, one quickly finds that Church staff payroll, music programs, children programs, and facilities maintenance probably account for 90% of the budget. Sure there are pockets here and there that help people in need, but I doubt it ever really goes over 10% of Church budget, including any apportionments that go to the sect’s larger organizational body. And the Church staff spends the vast majority of its energy/efforts on supporting the Church club. So in the end, I have a hard time assuming that more than 10% of any church/sect’s funding ever gets to helping those in need. And I think that lots of the big evangelical churches do far worse. That is hardly something worthy of praise.

If one gives to a local food band, or other groups working with the homeless, Doctors w/o Boarders, or what not, any paid staff/management is spending the vast majority of their energy/efforts directly on the mission in question.

Here is a charity that works in my area that is not affiliated with any church nor Christianity (not that some churches don’t support them). The point is that it doesn’t have to be tied back to a church. And I’m sure lots of Christians are directly involved in supporting their programs.
http://joinpdx.org/about/

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

You forget the RCC is not only diocesan priests.

https://www.franoutreach.org/shelter/
http://www.stmarysfs.org/about.php
https://www.stfrancisbreadline.org/
http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/our-work/ministries/homeless/

And those are just a few of the ones with websites. Most are so poor they don't have websites. I know firsthand they work their fingers to the bone. Too much, too much for your cynical dismissal of what they do. I get it--you hate the RCC. I don't give a shit if you do. I know too well what I'm talking about to give it.

That's great. Kudos to them. I have always maintained that what the RCC does outside it's church doors is far more important than what occurs within. Maybe some of that criticism is beginning to take hold as all of those activities are quite young.

I'm not holding my breath, however, that those efforts will ever become the norm when it comes to how and why the RCC operates. Those are the kinds of activities that should indeed enjoy tax free status, and not refurbishing your altar with new Italian marble, paid for by people who's incomes are a tiny fraction of what the princes of the church take in in one week.

 

[Perspicuo]

You forget the RCC is not only diocesan priests.

https://www.franoutreach.org/shelter/
http://www.stmarysfs.org/about.php
https://www.stfrancisbreadline.org/
http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/our-work/ministries/homeless/

And those are just a few of the ones with websites. Most are so poor they don't have websites. I know firsthand they work their fingers to the bone. Too much, too much for your cynical dismissal of what they do. I get it--you hate the RCC. I don't give a shit if you do. I know too well what I'm talking about to give it.

So, you're saying that the people who piped the Cathedral aren't REAL catholics?

I'm saying exactly what I'm saying. And I would suggest anyone read my posts in this same manner.