Auguest 1997 Case Study: Opting for the Poor in Our Catholic Schools
Abstract
While the phrase, "option for the poor," may be of fairly recent origin, its foundation is as old as the Scriptures. The God of Israel showed special concern for the poor and took up their cause (see Psalm 103:6; Proverbs 22:22-23). The "animism" were the little ones, the widows, orphans, strangers, whom God protected (see Deuteronomy 10:18). That is why the prophets spoke so sharply against the oppression by the rich and the powerful of the poor and weak (see Isaiah 3:24-15; Amos 2:6-7). Jesus carried on the prophetic tradition, when he challenged the rich who ignored the needy around them (see Luke 6:24; Luke 16: 19-31; Matthew 19:21).
Description
It must mean that the instruction they receive in these schools will open their eyes, touch their hearts and move their hands, in response to the tremendous problems of poverty nationally and globally. When we speak of "problems of poverty," we must remember that we are talking of poor people, of John and Mary, of our sisters and brothers. In a rich nation where one out of four per-schoolers grow up in poverty, and in an interdependent world where nearly 40,000 children die each day of hunger, the poor must not become only statistics but real people with names and faces.