I worry about the Catholic Church in America becoming too middle class. I worry about the Church in Britain becoming too socialistic. When Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta came to Manchester in England, (remember Malcolm Muggeridge who made her known to the secular world was from Manchester), she caused a stir and hurt some of the British feelings. She stated that the most horrible poverty she had ever seen, worse than Calcutta, was in Britain, specifically in Manchester.
Her comment was based on the fact that she correctly discerned that the real poverty of life was not merely not having basic necessities, but the isolation of the poor. In India, the poor are not isolated. There is a community among the poor. The trouble with the British experience of poverty is that people who are poor are isolated by others, as if they have a disease, as if poverty is catching, like the measles. The middle class judges the poor to be evil or at least, serious sinners, and the rich do not even see them. The poor are invisible to most of the rich.
Blessed Mother Teresa's keen spiritual eye showed her that the real sadness of poverty lies in the way other people view and treat the poor. And, in a socialist state, it is worse, as people just let the State to do things for people instead of taking charge. People are not seen as brothers and sisters in Christ, but numbers, statistics, problems. I have seen the huge difference in the mentality of the British over the years. The War Generation knew how to do things and get things done.They are dying out. Now, people are ignorant of how to do things, lack common sense, and are passive, on the whole. How sad, but this is a result of "social engineering".
One example of social engineering is the lack of doctors in England who will take private patients, even those who want to pay.
If Americans want a national health system, this is what will happen-you will not be seen. You will not get your needed prescriptions. People have no idea how to deal without the system. They do not see that they are trapped.
But, what is worse than all the rigmarole, is the lack of understanding on the part of the people that they have been made into sheep and are kept that way. So many adults will not know what it is to be an adult and take charge of one's life, making the State into God. This is serious.
The State is not God. That we are to rely on God is the reality of us being children of God, but if we exchange that status for being slaves of a state, God help us indeed.
What has this to do with the poor? Those without connections or communications are doomed to loneliness and anxiety, as well as frustration. The suffering of the outsiders is what Blessed Mother Theresa saw clearly. After all these years, the civilized world, and the Christian world, has failed to be the brothers and sisters in Christ He has called us all to be. Brothers and sisters mean family, not "cases".
One cannot enter into the New Evangelization without getting down and dirty in life. I know poor people right now who only eat once a day and are ill. One lives next to middle class people who ignore him. The middle class man on one side told the poor person recently that he were going to have a party, so as to not have him be in the way. The poor man should have been invited. He suffered the oversight. But, he knows he is marginalized. And, he used to be wealthier, but had bad luck in the financial world. He is divorced. He has no family. No one cares. This is the evil of the middle class, who cannot see how they marginalize those who they think are not their equals. It is amazing this man is not doing drugs or on alcoholic. He tries to rely on God.
One English woman told me that she does not even know the people in her neighborhood. She does not know any of them, and she has lived in her house for 12 years. Why? She is alone and those around her could care less. She is very lonely, and does what she can to go out, but as a poor person, she is limited.
Another woman I know, who is alone, does not have anyone to help her with basic necessities, and she is injured and needs help with the shopping. She is in pain all the time. There are young people around her that who do not even care about her. When I talk to people about these things, I am met with blank stares. I do what I can in my limited way. But, the socialist state has won...it has taken the heart away--out of individuals.
I know another single man who needs a stove. He practically sits in Church next to another single man who has all kinds of room in his house, but will not let this man rent a room, so that he can cook at home instead of eat out. The single man with the very large house does not want anyone around. I do not understand. The man without the stove is invisible to the man with the house and rooms.
We need more teachings on the Beatitudes here in England. All of these women, and all of the men, who are suffering loneliness and marginalization, are Catholics and go to Church, but they are invisible. I see them, as I have the eyes of the poor. One more story.
I lived in Walsingham for awhile and there was a pilgrim who came on foot. He had money for a room, and sometimes a room with breakfast, but he did not have money for other things, or food more than once a day. I noticed him in Church. I gave him food. I talked to him. He was highly intelligent and going on to Europe. He was charming and humble. Other people told me they were afraid. Of what? We live in a fear culture.
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After three weeks, when I had an extra pair of sunglasses which I gave him, he said to me that I was the only person in Walsingham that actually talked to him during that time. In the heart of Blessed Mary, Our Mother's house, he was ignored. He was not dangerous, but he was not rich, and outside the system. He is a person. He could be a saint. He could be one who will pray for me to get to heaven. I hope so. I am sure my travelling friend would be seen by the saint of Calcutta. Blessed Mother Theresa talked of such as these. Socialism has killed the heart of Catholics, and does so wherever it thrives. The New Evangelization needs a heart.