When Charity is Part of the Problem 

The original says that he “shows” why the poor are hungry. That’s even more forceful, I think.

When I question whether charity makes a difference in the long term, they call me a fascist.

"When I notice the food deserts, they call me compassionate. When I notice the remaining stores trashed and everything under lock and key, they call me a racist."

Hmmm food for thought

@hayleybartek8643 HA, nice one.

Hope you have a donation box in view,that may prick the conscience of those who can actually pay something.

May I ask if your conclusion would be the same if, instead of losing "a few" meals to the abusers, you lose most of the meals to them, edging out those who truly need the food?

oh the Holy Spirit is strong in you and your kind. Beautiful.

Yes, loneliness is the deeper hunger.

May the Lord bless the work of your hands

*spot on.........so very spot on*

Yes!!! Exactly! Thanks for pointing this out!

FINALLY!! Someone brings this up!

Precisely. Structural problems that keep people poor seems to fall squarely on the shoulders of institutions like the government, wouldn't you say?

​​@@Pheelyp Like what structural problems? Can you give me an example?

@@ankereisenman4824 Absolutely 💯!!!

@@Sumbaddy129 Another example is legislation, such as how some governments disproprotionately tax the poor more than the rich, systematically depriving them of resources they need to live. Another example is war - it is difficult to not be poor when bombs are being dropped on you, such as the case for Palestinians being genocided by Zionists in Israel.

@@Sumbaddy129 Car dependant city planning and zoning which force people to own an expensive piece of equipment to participate in any level of our economy and even provide for basic needs. Also forcing housing to be expensive through things like setback limits, parking minimums, and FAR requirements. A lot of our nation's poverty can be traced back to this, as well as urban renewal back in the 60s basically tearing down old but functioning city blocks are replacing them with dysfunctional project housing. And don't get me started on us having the highest incarceration rate in the world, largely due to petty crimes, and the effective slave labor built into it. Fr. Casey has a whole video on that.

Thanks for sharing this

The visitor failed to do one. Very important thing. Listen.

people in pain-spiritual, physical or economic can lash out at their "caretakers", that is why Christianity aint easy. Also, Look at our Saviour and the thanks He received for healing and helping and saving all creation....we aint better than Him. I don't know what is like to be desperately poor so I can't predict how I would act always in that situation. We all have been ungrateful at t imes but a good person who is helping sincerely tries to give her/his hardships in service to Christ. And it is hard for sure..

I hope you allow them to move on then. Such desperately ungrateful people deserve just that.

I work in addiction services. It is a psychological tactic to ‘create’ an emergency that ‘has to be solved right now’ to get well meaning people to hand over money, gift cards, a ride to wherever, ect. It is common for my clients to try this when they want me to do something without thinking to hard about it. And I can promise you while some folks might have good means… well I have lots of clients who will use that gift card, money, or coat to trade for drugs. Addiction does not bring out the best in people.

"It's nobody's business to ask if a person is worthy of free stuff, especially not the person who ends up paying for it."

Yes, feed them. Then work with them so they can develop skills and services to help them out of the situation that left them hungry.

Feeding THESE hungry who do not actually need help may mean not feeding MORE hungry who actually do.

What happens when so many are not working and asking for handouts that working cannot afford the rising taxes? I am all about helping people. I work in a job that does nothing but offer people tools to help themselves. But my community is reaching a point where we cannot support all the folks expecting free meals, shelter, ect.

bless you, always.

Did you thank him for his last video?

@@waseemhermiz7565 Yes I did. Why?

@@waseemhermiz7565 Yes. I did. Why?

"In many respects, democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine and has in any case made a remarkable contribution to the formation of a social consciousness." -Pope Benedict "Europe and its Discontents", published in First Things

No, but it makes a difference for the people involved...

@@rossiele father Casey didn’t say we shouldn’t help people on an individual level. Just that it’s not enough to limit it to that, because it will not solve the cause of the problem.

We are offering food (food pantry) but also more practical help. We have several volunteers who help people who've fallen into debt or who have problems to make ends meet. They help them to make an overview of the money coming in and going out. Help them to make a budget. Help look for things they can save money on. Point to and help apply for government programs if they qualify and help them to ask for (realistic) payment schedules with their creditors. The program has had some great results in the past decade. We are not located in the USA. But I think you could roll out similar programs. Basically teaching people the skills that can help them to become more financially healthy.

Perhaps a system to verify who actually needs help versus those who are abusing the organization?

@@Pheelyp Those definitions are far to nebulous to be useful.

@@Booger414 I meant for them to be a principle to be considered, not actionable policy guidelines for a concrete location and population for a specific duration.

"Teach a man to fish" has many dimensions: financial literacy, marketable skills, life coaching, big brother mentoring, etc. Teach those who can be taught. But there will always be those who can't be. But then, the Lord also said, "the poor you will always have with you..."

If the water isn't contaminated...

Great idea, but who wants to learn to fish when the guy down the street is giving away free fish?

You just described systemic poverty! All those rules and regulations often keep people from being able to take care of themselves.

thank you for your 1st hand insights

Very fishy indeed.

@@Pheelyp how about the one that would go ask for things by brand names , and if the brand wasn't the one she liked she didn't take it .

@@miguelsemidei7619Document the incident and ban her from future help. Such abusers should be prevented from depriving those in actual need from getting assistance.

I think part of the issue is the welfare asset limits. They are extremely low- and they encourage people on welfare to buy rather then save, which is probably why they had those sneakers and gadgets.

Corporate bashing is a cop out! Corporations employ more people and have done more to raise the standard of living over the past 100 years than any other entity. They have become the scapegoats of the political class for nefarious purposes. The Corporation is simply a business organization structure. It is not a person, it has no feelings, no emotion, no moral responsibility. Corporations are owned by people, often millions of people, and run by people for the production of goods and services and to make a profit. Period! They are not charities, they are not moral arbiters, they are not social justice (whatever that is) warriors. Only when those charged with making corporate decisions deviate from that single goal and place themselves in social, moral, or righteous superior positions do we get corporate problems. Meanwhile, the politicians use corporations for political cover while coopting executives to achieve self serving goals and goals outside the charter of a corporate entity. How convenient to personify a "corporation" and then blame "the corporation" rather than naming names of the true evil perpetrators within and outside of it.

@@tommaxwell429 Corporations having a legal personality distinct from the people that run it is a convenient legal fiction necessitated by practical economic considerations. This does not diminish the fact that it is, in reality, made up of human beings who DO have the power to make decisions and therefore have the moral responsibility to make ethical ones. And regarding the purpose of such business ventures, given that "riches fulfill their function of service to man when they are destined to produce benefits for others and for society" (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, paragraph 329), "profit", though an indicator of how well they function, is not their ultimate goal. It is when those in business deviate from their moral duty to serve their fellow men through their economic activity that injustice is done.

@@tommaxwell429 You are 100% correct about the problems within corporations being the result of evil people. That said, once established, A corporate culture is very hard to change. As an example - and this is true no matter your opinion on guns and gun laws - consider the ATF. Most people do not realize that originally, the what is now the ATF was formed out of the old prohibition enforcement agency. When FDR passed the first gun control laws, he had the prohibition cops, who now had little to do, enforce these laws. As more federal gun laws have been passed, most have been added to the ATF's responsibility. Over 100 years after it was first formed - and quickly corrupted - it is still a corrupt organization. When whistleblowers exposed the "Fast and Furious" scandal in which guns were INTENTIONALLY smuggled into Mexico and used to kill a Border Patrol agent, not a single responsible person was disciplined and the whistleblowers were punished. Recently, two Senators exposed a fraud in which personnel hired for disk jobs in offices were paid as field law enforcement agents, collecting million in undeserved "pay". Again, you do not have to be a 2nd Amendment advocate to see how wrong this is. Are there good people working there? Absolutely. Is there a culture of corruption that goes back to prohibition? You bet there is! The same is true in private orgs too. When I was a paramedic, there was a hospital in which the accepted way to advance was over the (figuratively) dead bodies of your coworkers. I'm sure that this happens in corporations too.

​@tommaxwell429 except that corporations put billions of dollars into politics to their own benefit. If they didn't do that I'd be with you.

@@bubbles581 Very true! Is that a problem with the corporate business structure or perhaps with the politicians and contribution laws? Just like I say corporations are not evil entities to be vilified, they are also not individuals who should have a political voice. I think the Supreme Court got this wrong when they ruled that corporations, unions, PACs represent the collective voice of the people within. Nonsense, they represent the corrupt voice of the powers within, Political contributions by corporations and PACs should be outlawed. Only personal donations should be allowed.

Indeed, you can see similar scenes at the soup kitchen where I volunteer. Many people come there to eat just for the company... Some people apologize and tell us "I don't come here because I really need it, but otherwise I would be home alone all day without speaking to anybody"... We say that loneliness is a type of poverty, and the social aspect of such places is extremely important, especially in big cities where people don't know each other and one could spend whole weeks without talking with somebody. There are lots of elderly people who live alone and for them eating at our place is a way of meeting people every day... They talk with each other, sometimes they help each other. I think it's important and it's something no other public form of help (from state or local authorities) seems to take into consideration

You do heroic work building connections and community.

Don't struggle my friend! Make personal charity personal. Keep it close to you and your community and you will know where your efforts are going and you will see the results of your efforts. We can't save the world! As the great Jordan Peterson says, "Want to change the world? Start by making your own bed in the morning!" Fix you, fix your family, fix your neighborhood, fix your school, fix your community, and by doing so we fix the world. Do not feel guilty at all that you are not fixing the worlds problems, those are God's to deal with.

It is indeed a struggle discerning whether our individual efforts actually contribute to addressing or exacerbate the problem. Thus the importance of vigilance in not letting altruism get in the way of justice.

Yea and what sucks is when I go and help out at a tent city, I'm exposing myself to diseases, second hand drug and cigarette smoke (the amount of cigarettes they smoke is insane).... it's kind of scary to be around mentally ill as well

@@JM-gu7jx Yes very true. There are risks is all aspects of life. Trying to help people in these situations poses certain risks. Some people have the personal fortitude to accept those risks, others not so much. Can you imagine, I try to, the first day Mother Teresa walked into the slums of Calcutta to set up her Mission of Charities. She had to have absolute and unwavering faith. But we are not all cut out for such endeavors. Thankfully there are other less risky ways to help our fellow humans. Mental illness is a whole other issue we could talk about for hours. If anyone comes up with a good way to deal with it, they will become rich and famous. Some things are not fixable and we are meant to suffer right along with the victim as part of the human race. My wife is in the latter stages of Alzheimer's. There is nothing we can do for her but make sure she is clean, fed, warm, and safe and then suffer right along with her and pray for her until it is time. She is not the federal government's responsibility, the state's or city's responsibility, or even the community's responsibility. She is my responsibility because I married her 50 years ago and took a vow that included better, worse, and death till us part.

@@JM-gu7jx That's frightening. Please go only if you can reliably protect yourself and preserve your health.

There is sense in vetting whether someone is needy enough before assistance is provided because given finite resources, helping those who do not need help deprives others who actually do.

I saw similar scenes (like everybody, I think), and at first I felt like you, but then I thought: can we really expect the world to be any different? I mean there ARE greedy and selfish people in the world, and there will always be. In a perfect world, they wouldn't be queuing with the poor to get what they can buy with their own money. But we can't wait for the world to be perfect before helping the poor, so we must just concentrate on doing our part...What *they* do is their own choice, and one day they'll have to answer for that. And we must accept also the fact that our judgement of them to be "unworthy" may be wrong... It's not up to us to judge who is worthy. We never really know people's lives and why they are trying to get something for free.. Maybe they look well dressed because they are wearing their best clothes they own (or lost their jobs few days before and still have all their things) ; maybe they are queuing a second time because they are getting things to donate to some person in need who can't come there themeselves. When you talk with people and get to know a bit of their background, you often discover situations you would have never guessed, and see that most people are not so bad and "unworthy" as you first thought... And God works in mysterious ways! Maybe even those who are really "unworthy", one day will be touched by other people's generosity and will start to change. We don't know, but it's not up to us to judge. God see what you do, and what they do, and He's the only one who has the right vision.

I hope not! A call for justice alongside charity is among the most central of our teachings!

@@BreakingInTheHabit I agree with you but many generations only have faith through their works. It is a great wake up call. Kudos.

The principle of subsidiarity states that what a lower level of society cannot handle, a higher level should take care of. There are structural problems (plenty were mentioned in the video) that the Church cannot solve on Her own. Therefore, these problems should be addressed by institutions like the government and big corporations that have the necessary power to effect change in this scale.

That, and also that some symptoms are urgent and should be addressed, as well as that some symptoms are self-inflicted and treating the symptom only makes the situation worse.

For what it’s worth here is the explanation offered in the description of that video: Comments have been shut down on this video because of the unfortunate lack of charity it has received. Far too many people are publicly sinning in this comment section--making false accusations, using harsh language, judging, condemning, and forgetting what Jesus taught about how we are to approach our enemies. I love respectful public discourse, but I will not allow this comment section be a forum for sin.

He does not say to get rid of lifeguards (soup kitchens, food pantries etc.), but to also look what causes the need for these lifeguards. In my country people who need help from food pantries because of debt, are helped in two ways: we provide food, but also offer help from a volunteer who will help get their financial situation in order. Create an overview of the money coming in and going out. Help find ways to reduce spending. Help them to ask for (and keep) payment schedules with their creditors. This way you help a person not just with the symptoms of their debt (not being able to buy food) but also help them to resolve the cause. So that they hopefully in the future they won't need your help.

Which part of the argument fails to convince you, specifically?

Would you allow for the possibility that whether or not government is a good steward of community resources depends on many factors, such as the system of government as well as the people that serve in it?

@@Pheelyp even governments chosen by the people tend to be poor stewards of the public’s funds, and tend to spend on projects to boost their reelection rather than the real need. Governments vary in stewardship quality for sure, but tend to be on the low end of the spectrum even in the best case. Government lacks the ability to be compassionate. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Government compassion is as limited by humans being human. As such, government is the last resort, not the preferred solution.

@@haneyoakie14Would you similarly agree that just as government compassion is limited because humans (who comprise government) are limited (and are only as strong as their weakest link), the same can be said for other institutions made up of humans?

Absolutely@@Pheelyp

The Bible never orders corporations and gov't to do charity. It commands Christians to be moved by the Holy Spirit to do so. Forcing institutions that were not meant to provide those functions is the problem. Corporations are meant to run businesses ethically and for shareholders, so those "individual shareholders" can support charities moved by their conscience. The gov't's core function is to enforce laws to keep order and justice, not charity. How many trillions do our gov't waste on charities that result in negative outcomes?

@@thomasc9036 "meant to run businesses ethically" No, they are there to make profit by any means necessary. There is only one god for corporations and that is profit, their tenant is greed, their salvation is bigger returns. There is nothing ethical about corporations. Hurt their workers, hurt the environment, hurt whatever it takes to make the number at the end of the year higher.

@@Myder_Dragon No, ETHICALLY! That means they need to obey laws. They cannot go around hiring people to kill competitors or do you believe that for "profit" they can do so? Ethics and morals have a hierarchy. Some are more important than others.

​@@thomasc9036 if coporations dont like the law, they lobby to change it. so maybe that's not a good bar to measure their ethics or morality.

@@thomasc9036 You said, "The Bible never orders corporations and gov't to do charity" and "The gov't's core function is to enforce laws to keep order and justice, not charity." Considering that the Church teaches that the purpose of the political community is to work "to recognize and respect human dignity through defending and promoting fundamental and inalienable human rights" (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, paragraph 338), how can you meaningfully differentiate justice and charity, much less claim that the government should do only the former and not the latter?

This seems a most reasonable and noble way of doing things. God bless you, Robert.