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There Will Always be Poor Among You

Summary/Abstract: The gap between the rich and the poor will become even broader. How does the Church face such future challenges? Theologians name three basic activities of the Church: preaching, liturgy and works of charity. These three are interconnected; if one is missing, the Church cannot fulfill its vocation. Theological reflection that praises preaching over liturgical service or charitable acts is as misleading as the one that performs liturgy for the sake of performance or ceremony. These can lead to the loss of the charitable dimension of the Church. But the dimension of charity can be lost due to other reasons. For example, one can misunderstand the vocation of Caritas, the Catholic agency for social services, and see it merely as a social department within the Church. Wrong opinion leads to wrong practice. In fact, Caritas functions as a private association. Another misleading opinion is that Caritas can cause conflicts in state/church relations. At the same time, those working in the charitable field must not become complacent and lay too much stress on success. Caritas must overcome the so-called materialism of poverty; that is, Caritas must not forget they are must help people and not simply solve all of their material problems. If Caritas, if charitable work, does not take its inspiration from the Holy Spirit, it might lose its real dimension, which is to incarnate in a unique way the charitable dimension that is constitutive of the whole Church. No Christian can avoid the call to charity. It is the call for all human beings to live in one great family, as only humanity joined together in charity has a future.

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