Don’t Mistaken Social Justice for Charity

Christian friendship is incredibly important to our spiritual growth. Christ calls us to charity – a grace-filled, self-sacrificing love that fills the hearts of others with the love of God.

Our Catholic school has taken up the cause of helping our local food pantry by providing meals for people in transitional housing. The food pantry rents a building on our parish grounds. So when it was our turn, my children and I took our part of the meal to the food pantry and started setting it out, fully expecting that we would stay and greet people as they came in to eat. But everyone else from the school just dropped off their food and left! I was a bit flabbergasted. Weren’t we supposed to be doing a work of charity? Where was the charity in just dropping off the food and not spending any time with the people we were serving?

Now, I have to confess a good dose of social shyness. I don’t engage with strangers easily. But I forced myself to stay and to help set up the meal. I talked with the people who came through the kitchen wondering what was for dinner. I stayed for prayer. I was uncomfortable the entire time. But I was glad I did it.

Now you might be asking, what’s the big deal? After all, the rest of the school families did what they said they’d do. They brought food for the meal. The people in transitional housing filled their tummies and were happy with the meal. Social justice was satisfied and the Catholic school did its Christian duty, right?

Or did it?

The truth lies in how the gift was received by the people in transitional housing at the food pantry. I was asked a number of times (politely and without any real interest), “you guys are part of a church group?” They saw the gift in the way it was offered – one institution supporting another institution. The gift never reached their heart.

The families of the school were supporting a cause. They weren’t really loving people. It’s much easier for us to throw money (or food) at the problems of the world. But that’s not charity. Jesus (the author of charity) certainly didn’t work that way. He spent time with the poor. He preached the Good News to them. He showed them the love of God by being present to them in love.

It is so easy for us to placate our conscience by tricking ourselves into believing that we are doing what Christ commands simply by contributing to the material good of people in need. This experience renewed in my mind a dangerous trend that we are experiencing in the Church today.

As Blessed Teresa of Calcutta reminds us, “If we truly want peace in the world, let us begin by loving one another in our own families. If we want to spread joy, we need for every family to have joy.” Our closest relationships – our family, or friends, our co-workers, our parish – present the true training ground of the heart. We learn to love by giving ourselves selflessly to those that God has placed in our lives. Start with our closest relationships. Then we can extend our circles and spread that selfless love through acts of mercy.