ISSUE: Homelessness
Consider for a moment...What was your biggest worry today?  
Were you stuck in traffic?  Did you have a tough day at work, are you stressed about the coming holidays?
We often take for granted the blessings ain our lives.  We take for granted those less fortunate than ourselves;  people who do not have a warm place to call home, food to eat, no sense of belonging. People who are set apart and left to struggle on the margins of our community. 
As people of God and Christ we are called by our faith to make a special commitment to the poor and marginalized.  The need is very great.  We see people in need of food, clothes, and shelter.  We see them and often times we look away.  The problem can seem overwhelming.
In December, the Social Justice Committee of St. Charles Borromeo is asking our community not to look away.  the smallest gifts can change a life; a hot meal, warm coat, or even a caring smile can make a difference to someone in need.  Let us all look for opportunities to help the poor and those in need.  Please consider giving to St. Vincent de Paul or other charity organizations that serve the poorest among us.  

Get involved:

• Donate or participate with our youth group in Service Sunday the first Sunday of every Month, as we serve the homeless within NE Portland​
• Volunteer with our SVDP.  Open every Saturday from 10-1, our SVDP distributes financial assistance, food, and clothing to thousands each year. 
• Get involved in our Social Justice Committee.  We are currently working on campaigns to ensure rent stabilization, end to no-cause evictions, eliminating housing barriers faced by the elderly and people experiencing disabilities, and preserving our neighborhood mobile home parks.   

Contact our Church office for more information on any of these ministries. 

Connection to Scripture:  
As we journey toward Christmas, we encourage you to reflect on the birth narrative of our Lord in the book of Luke.  We are told that the Holy family had to return to their homes.  This meant like thousands of other families during that time, the Holy Family had been forced from there homes through unjust laws and loans.  It is within this family experiencing homelessness that God is birthed into the world.  And through the experience of poverty, Jesus grows to understand his vocation as one that speaks out against injustice, and to his followers he commands  that they shelter the homeless and take care of the poor
The Good Samaritan Luke 10: 34-35
The Judgement of Nations Mathew 25:31-46  
Sermon on the Plain Luke 6:20-26

Connection to Church teaching:

• "A basic moral test for our society is how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst.  In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor,  our tradition instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first."  -Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching, U.S. Catholic Bishops, 2005
• "One can hardly open the Scriptures without finding reference to God's command to live our lives in solidarity, especially with those who are poor.  There are two primary aspects to the work of solidarity: Direct service and social justice"- Solidarity with the Poor:   Sharing the Tradition Shaping the Future Series Book V
• "Having adequate shelter is a basic human right; a right that the Church affirms as a key part of respecting and recognising our personhood. Ensuring everyone is able to access a safe, stable and adequate home is one part of working for the common good. This means that social, economic and political structures must be ordered towards making home ownership or rental equitable for all, rather than being structured in restrictive unjust ways."-ACBC Social Justice Statement 1992​​​

DIVE DEEPER

​Office of Life, Justice & Peace
​Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon     ​

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ST CHARLES SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE