Consider the following Old Testament reading from this upcoming Sunday:
“You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.”
As a general rule, any time “thus saith the Lord,” contains the phrase “I will kill you with the sword,” I listen. The question is this: What is it that could stir God himself to such violent words?
Holy Scripture is quite clear:
“He who oppresses a poor man insults his Maker; but he who is kind to the needy honors him” (Proverbs, 14:31).
“He who closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself cry out and not be heard” (Proverbs, 21:13).
“He who gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse” (Proverbs, 28:27).
It is a long-standing tradition within the Church that the poor are close to the heart of God. The Church teaches us that “oppression of the poor” and “defrauding laborers of their wages” are both sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. Given the fierce words that season Our Heavenly Father’s language regarding their treatment, I am not surprised. However, there is a certain sector of the poor and downtrodden on which I’d like to focus.
St. James tells us: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James1, 1:27).
Orphans. They are the focus of my inquiry, and appropriately so because they are the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.
Catholic religious sisters opened the first orphanage in North America in 1729. It served as a hospital and a refuge for young girls orphaned by Native American raids. By the late 19th century, orphanages in the United States had grown to more than 600 institutions, and many of those were Catholic. Today there are only a handful of orphanages inside the United States, and only a few are Catholic (those run by Catholics rarely teach the faith to the children).
My concern is this: In the midst of battles over abortion, marriage, the economy, you name it, have we forgotten these abandoned members of our society? “Orphan” is a pejorative now, and modern orphanages call themselves by any other name. Is this a sector of our society we’ve simply pushed from the view of the American public?
We do have the foster-care system, and it is riddled with problems. Still, I’m less concerned with the foster care-orphanage debate than with what Catholics are doing to serve orphans. Adoption services and loving Catholic foster parents are saintly ventures we need to continue. However, I don’t think this is an either/or scenario?
A recent study of more than 2,500 American orphanage alumni found the orphans “outpaced their counterparts in the general population often by wide margins” in almost all areas of life. Moreover, “white orphanage alumni had a 39% higher rate of college graduation than white Americans of the same age.” And probably most shockingly, less than 3% of orphanage alumni had “hostile memories of their orphanage experience.” My point? Given real opportunity and investment these children rise out of darkness to become productive members of society.
The bottom line is that as Catholics we need to remember the littlest and most vulnerable of our nation. Maybe we should revive the American Catholic orphanage system or maybe we should start a parish-based initiative of some sort. Regardless, these children are dear to the heart of our God. We must act.
I leave you with a request and a quote. First, I ask that if you have any information or stories about the good work being done by Catholic orphan care, please share them. Lastly, in an apropos summary of the aforementioned Scriptures I offer you a quote for reflection:
“If we don’t love the poor, and do all we can to improve their lot, we’re going to go to hell.” — Archbishop Chaput
More on this Topic
St. Joseph’s Indian School
Haitian Orphans & Adoptive Parents
10,000 Orphans Call Him Father
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I am an adoptive parent of an Ukrainian orphan. I would not have found my child if it had not been for Protestant, not Catholic, orphan ministries; and I have often thought about just how wrong that is, when it is our faith has always led the pro-life fight. How is it that I never hear homilies on adoption, on foster care, on statistics of the abandoned children in our country and around the world? Why is it the Protestants who have numerous and very large ministries in support of older child adoption? How can we have failed in this manner and continue to fail? It’s scandalous, and needs to be corrected.
Well, I think it’s a worthy undertaking, and a decent enough proposal. However, I think you’re forgetting the hostile situation we live in.
(those run by Catholics rarely teach the faith to the children).
That’s rather sad, but there’s a reason for it. Orphans are wards of the State, and the State is getting pretty hostile about the Church. Are you sure the State is going to place its wards in a Catholic orphanage?
The saddest thing I ever read about JPII was written by a Jew in, I think, Time magazine about yr 2000. He explained he was a an orphaned babe in Poland after WWII and was taken to then Father Wojtyla and asked if he should be raised Catholic. Fr Wojtyla said no, to raise him Jewish. The Jew was thanking the Pope for that. Superficially, that sounds really touching, but here now is this man, unbaptized and denied the treasures of the Church.
In this day, Catholic orphanages would be placed in the same dilemna without an easy answer. Would it still be a Catholic orphanage if the mouths of the staff are muzzled, or would it just be a secular orphanage staffed by silent Catholics?
As always, Archbishop Chaput’s clarity cuts through rationalizations and excuses. Children deprived of parental love and focused parenting have a divinely-ordained claim on attention and resources from caring, responsible, non-predatory adults. Whether these children are literally “orphans” or merely neglected, their teachers, nurses, coaches etc. owe them a duty of our attention and protection. These are the encounters which heal children’s wounds of loss and neglect. In Hebrew, the term is “Mitzvah”. This does not translate as “good deed”. It translates as “commandment” thus, as Archbishop Chaput points out, we are obligated.
Since Catholic Charities adoption has already been shut down in DC and Massachusetts, and is in the courts in Illinois because of “gay marriage”, I agree with Cassandra about the hostile environment. The STATE is not interested in helping Catholics adopt, and is, in fact, doing what it can to shut down Catholic Adoption agencies. Maybe we should stand up against “GAY marriage” to help these children.
Thank you for reminding us of this.
Original Post
Mother Theresa
Every Tuesday I go with two other seminarians to the House of Peace in Lebanon run by the Missionaries of Charity . The house is a home for the abandoned- both elderly women and children. How fitting that it is Sisters, who have freely abandoned the world, who care for and love those who have been abandoned by the world. I spend my time playing with the children, feeding them, singing to them, and helping out with the chores. You would not believe the love and the behavior of these children. The first week I went there were 27 children and teens, the second week there were 29. Two very young children had joined the ranks. The older children help take care of the young children (and the younger elderly help with the elder elderly). The children squabble, but the squabbles are quickly resolved. There is so much love, so much joy, so much peace.
There is no natural reason for their joy. The joy is supernatural, from Christ. The first day I went a nine year old came up to my two friends and I, and asked for our cheeks that he might kiss them. The children are truly incredible, because of the love they receive from Christ through the Sisters and the volunteers. The children call the one woman responsible for their care during the day (or at least Tuesday) “Mama” and she cares for them, changing diapers, feeding, giving each one attention. You can’t believe the love, I can’t believe the love, and I was there. OH did I mention that the vast majority of the children have mental or physical handicaps. They are defined by their love, they are created in the image of God. Yet because of this small side note of Down syndrome, or deformity, or other handicaps of which I do not know the name, these children may likely not be adopted. People don’t want ‘imperfect’ children. They say they would be unable to care for them. If, God’s willing, I persevere in my formation and am ordained a priest, I will be unable to adopt and lead by example. This is difficult for me, but I can encourage, and plead. Be open to adoption; be open to love whoever God puts in your life. Why not go to an abortion mill with a sign saying, “I will take care of you and adopt your baby” and mean it. P.S.I did not know there were orphanages in the USA. I must add that we should support them, since no one person can adopt them all, but that the ideal is the family, the domestic church. If our domestic churches are missionary and fertile including being open to adoption, then our parishes will be missionary and fertile as well.
After raising 4 children we felt we had more to give so we adopted 5 siblings from the foster-care system. While this has been the most challenging call by far for us, we see 5 souls who hopefully will grow up to love God and others. We are by far not the most equipped when it comes to patience, affection, etc. but we take it day by day with the big picture in mind and constantly rely on God’s mercy and forgiveness as well as the original call from Him to serve orphans and widows. I do hope more Catholics will consider adopting children and trust God will help them through it. It’s not easy but easy is not why we exist. He sacrificed for us…he calls us to do the same.
My aunt, a Sister of Charity, worked in the 1950s in an orphanage run by her order in Newark, NJ. Our family would host an orphan every year for the Christmas season. We had an orphan and his mother, Hispanic, for Thanksgiving once. I remember my visits to the orphanage as a child. The children seemed so happy and the sisters radiated joy. Cassandra’s comment is sad but true, if the orphan must be a ward of the state. The blessings of secularism. Do the Protestants get away with teaching religion in their orphanages, I wonder? Then, again, it’s the Catholic truth that the state wants to crush.
Thank you for the reminder. We must remember the children and in remembering them, we must remember that until we return to the respect of human life, these children will continue to be in danger of an incredible dismissal of the value and integrity of life such as in this video http://conservativebyte.com/2011/10/sickening-video-two-vans-hit-chinese-toddler-18-passers-by-ignore-her-suffering/ . We must end abortion, teach the basics of TRUE love by standing up to the homosexual agenda and porn industry and the children will benefit. We cannot lose our focus.
Alexander,
My heart joins with you in your amazement at the joy of Christ so present in the faces of orphans. I worked in Haiti at an orphanage for a period of time and the children became my own joy. It was there, in their faces and the immense need around them that I was drawn to God in a way that led me to find the Catholic Church. Since my return to the US on a full time basis, I have been researching the US system. I recommend to any who are interested in this problem a book by Dr. Richard McKenzie called Redefining Orphanages for the 21st Century. Very informative.
I dream of the day when the children discarded and hidden by our society can be welcomed to a HOME, not simply an institution, but a group HOME when their biological families are unable to care for them. There are adoption sites and placement agencies in the States that have birthmothers by the hundreds looking for families to place children with, to avoid the state system. We don’t often hear about them, but they are there. What if those children were placed directly into the custody of an orphan home, rather than the state? This was our practice in Haiti. We were the legal guardians. Ultimately family reunification is best, but if this is impossible, then a group home is, I believe (and statistics show, see Dr. McKenzie et al), a better option for most children than “permanent temporary care.”
Nonetheless, it is good to be reminded of the need. I would love to see our parishes push for adoption and orphan care. St. Jerome Emiliani, pray for us!
At our parish (St Joseph parish-Bread of Life Community) we sponsor the St. Anthony Orphanage in India. In addition we are trying to raise awareness in our parish and encourage more people to support them. There will be a talk on orphans and how to help at October 30TH 12:00PM at our parish center, 24th and Sassafras Erie, PA. Please see the Reason For Our Hope foundation’s web page (http://www.thereasonforourhope.org/) if you would like to support them as well.
What happened to Boys’ Town?
Its called Boys/Girls town and in Nebraska
same place its always been. http://www.boystown.org/
they have a hotline for parents of runaways and runaways too.
They send me stamps they are on my charity list along with
the missions and homeless shelter in my own town and Toys for Tots
that the Marine Corps started a long time ago.
It’s hard to pick all the organizations they all need help!
Let us start at the TOP ! The USCCB has collected funds for over 40 years telling us “It is for the POOR !” It’s CCHD for instance then distributed these hundreds of millions to groups such as ACORN & the ACLU & numerous others that are Pro-Abortion, left wing radical & communist partisan & totally anti-Catholic. This is their idea of serving the POOR ? Every Diocese in the USA is a lilliput fife-dom unto itself. Opulent meals, expensive limo’s, funds for every left-wing group & if you disagree your not “charitable” ! Welfare has corrupted our society. These supposedly poor learn quickly how to manipulate the system & many get excessive benefits. We’ve been sending food to Africa for decades & it never reaches the starving masses. The communist dictators divert it to
their own use or like Russia, the grain ships were never even emptied, they sold them to others. I’ll pick my own charities if you don’t mind. Americans do not really know what being “POOR” is !
My wife and I have taken in foster children ever since we got married. After three biological children we resolved to avoid conceiving more children in favor of adopting orphans instead. Here are kids who already exist, who need a good home. We have adopted one child from the foster system so far and have been discussing a second.
Fostering has been a joy. We’re sad to see them go when they go back to their birth parents, but happy that the system worked. We firmly believe (and often have to remind ourselves) that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
The kids are great. Many have issues, but we’ve never had foster children act out any more than non-foster children do. And their issues are so often the direct result of being innocent victims of abuse. They are eager to learn, to laugh, to love, to feel accepted and wanted. They heal quickly, as children can.
We try to encourage other Catholic families to do something similar. We have been blessed with fertility but feel that this type of ministry would be a good fit for couples who are having difficulty conceiving biological children.
This is pro-life. This is what “true religion consists in”.
I donate to Covenant House. I know many of these kids may not be technically “orphans”, but in my opinion, anyone who lives on the streets or is termed a “throwaway” kid deserves to be treated as such and given our highest priority for love and compassion. I make them a priority in my giving and have felt that I needed schedule monthly giving. Your scriptural reminder is a call to action for me. Thanks!
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