The Poor Poor
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31 May 1992
Rome, Italy

My dear Volunteers,

You have kindly invited me to participate in the meeting which you are holding in Madrid on the 5, 6 and 7 June. I greatly appreciate your gesture and, although I will be in Spain during those days, I have already accepted engagements which would make it difficult for me to assist at your National Meeting. From my Confreres and from the Daughters of Charity, I have learned how vibrant your Association is throughout Spain and how vigorously you are working for the poor. If that fact rejoices me, how much more must it lift the hearts of the poor who in so many diverse ways you discreetly and lovingly serve.

Recently I have been reflecting on an ordinance which a bishop in the United States made for his diocese. Last year he asked that over a period of three months every meeting held under diocesan auspices begin with the question, "How shall what we are doing here affect or involve the poor?" At the end of three months the Bishop had some interesting observations to make on the experiment that had taken place. One of them was the following which I transcribe from his letter to the diocese:

"We tend to forget the poor poor.

A typical scenario: The chairperson begins the meeting by saying something like, `Well, the bishop has asked that we begin each meeting with a discussion about how this affects or involves the poor. So we're going to spend a few minutes doing that. I'll throw it open for anyone who would like to say something.'

Silence.

Then someone says, `Well, people can be poor in a lot of different ways. There are some people, for example, who don't have friends, and they are poor.'

I interrupt. `I agree with you. But this decree has to do with the poor poor. They are the ones who get left out because they're not part of what I did yesterday or today. The other kinds of poor people are part of our lives, and we need to be concerned about them. But I want us to connect with the poor poor. If we deal with them, all the rest will follow. The poor poor are the ones who rarely if ever are first on an agenda. So let's talk about them.'

Mental note: Always start with the poor poor."

(cf. Bishop Untener in Origins, 1 Aug. 1991).

I think the bishop's observations could give us all much to reflect upon. In his original question, "How shall what we are doing here affect or involve the poor?" I like the two verbs, `affect' and `involve.' Both are important. We can spend much time discussing problems about the poor without ever--or at least only after much time--affecting the lives of the poor. Involvement of the poor: that is an ideal which we must try to realize in the programs we elaborate to relieve need and redress injustice. You try to involve the poor in the projects which you organize. We try to help the poor in such a way that they will be able to help themselves and thus rise out of their poverty in a way that is in harmony with their human dignity.

The work we do for the poor is a work of faith. Activated by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and inspired by the example of St. Vincent and St. Louise, we try to bring the healing hand of Christ to those in need and the courageous voice of the prophet to those in power. This is the challenge that faces Vincentian Volunteers in your country today.

Praying God's blessing on your meeting and greeting each of you in the name of St. Vincent, I remain, in the love of Our Lord, devotedly yours.

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