Poverty

Hope LaDuke stood in the wind near a concrete sound barrier along Hiawatha Avenue in south Minneapolis Aug. 1. All of her belongings were stacked under a plastic tarp that measured roughly 5 feet square, and she pulled out a blanket that she would sleep under that night.

Minnesota is ranked the second-best state in the nation overall (after Iowa). This is according to new overall state rankings by U.S. News and World Report, which are based on more than 75 metrics including economy, education, opportunities and quality of life.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, has been studying poverty at the federal level from Washington, but he took a few hours to learn what poverty looks like on the front lines with a visit to Catholic Charities Fort Worth April 3.

Adkins identified two themes — fighting the commodification of the human person and caring for “our common home” — that will shape the crux of the MCC’s work this session.

American Catholic women are increasingly disengaged from the church although they remain affiliated and say helping the poor and receiving the Eucharist are the most important aspects of what it means to be Catholic.

In devising the series, Miller said CCF took insights from its donors, who often ask about the community’s greatest needs and how they can respond to them with their time, talent and treasure.

It’s as loud as a fire alarm (except it goes off 20 times a day). It screeches like fingernails down a chalkboard. And rather than fleeing to escape it, we’re supposed to run right toward it.

Tax policy is not a simple matter. It almost never has been and may not ever be.

One of the greatest heroes of the social justice wing of the Church is, quite rightly, the 17th-century “slave of the slaves,” St. Peter Claver. Born in Barcelona, Claver joined the Society of Jesus and was known, even as a young man, as a person of deep intelligence and piety.

Jeremiah is homeless. He is a slight man and slanted to the right. Some days he has a pronounced limp — arthritis in the knee. He’s lost most of his teeth. I first met Jeremiah some time ago on my way into work at my highway exit where he stands and holds a cardboard sign at the stoplight: “Homeless, hungry.” One day I rolled down my window, asked his name and offered him a few dollars that he accepted with a two-tooth grin. He asked my name and we shook hands. He thanked me and blessed me and the light turned green.

Latin America's traditional social values of cooperation and solidarity must prevail over the societal ills that threaten the livelihood of the region's inhabitants, Pope Francis said.

People cannot sit back and be indifferent or unresponsive to growing poverty in the world as a privileged minority accumulates "ostentatious wealth," Pope Francis said.