"While donation campaigns and charitable contributions for the needy are important, true Christian charity involves a more personal touch. Coming face to face with the poor may pose a challenge and tempt people to turn the other way and give in to the habit of fleeing from needy people and not approach them or to disguise the reality of the needy." ~Pope Francis said at a General Audience gathered at St. Peter's Square in October 2016.
"Poverty in the abstract does not challenge us. It may make us think, and it may make us complain. But when you see poverty in the flesh of a man, a woman or a child; this certainly challenges us!" the Holy Father reminds us.
How do we translate this challenge in our own lives?
Each person we see or encounter is a son or a daughter of our common heavenly Father. That makes them our own brothers and sisters. Although sickness, mental disease, poverty, addiction, or their desperation may distract us in a given moment, we are duty bound to reach out to our brothers and sisters in whatever way we can to bring them closer to the assurance of a family who cares for them and a God who loves them tenderly.
Never absolving ourselves from the responsibility to love the neighbor we encounter in the circumstances of our daily lives, the local and regional organizations listed below provide opportunities to extend your personal outreach through shared responsibility.
A Video Message from our Bishop and those who help him in service to the one million Catholics in our Local Church - the Diocese of San DIego
To participate in the Annual Catholic Appeal, follow this link and look for St. Margaret - Oceanside.