Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Readings of the Day

"One thing that I cannot figure out about you guys. You speak out against big business and corporate profits, but you don't mind asking the CEO of our local paper company for a large donation for your school."

This is a tension we face in our Catholic Charities agencies, parishes, and other human service providers. In the Gospel today, Luke describes how Jesus chose Levi (aka Matthew) the tax collector to be one of his closest followers. Tax collectors were scorned by many Jews because they were seen as allies of the Jews' Roman governors; and, they made a nice salary to boot. Often Jews themselves, they were viewed as having thrown in their lot with their Romans oppressors for their own financial security.

Jesus called a wide variety of people to be his followers. Bseside the tax collector that we know about, he also called Simon the Zealot to be an apostle. Again, not the most likely figure to be in Jesus' inner circle! But the Gospels are filled with references to Jesus calling and healing not just the righteous, but even sinful outcasts, Gentiles, lepers, outspoken political figures, and tax collectors.

The episode that I recalled above was part of a conversation that a friend and I had a few years ago. The next time a Catholic Charities development staff solicits a donor, or writes a grant application to a corporation that many shareholders request change their policies about worker rights or fossil fuel use, may we remind ourselves that being in relationship with all kinds of people promotes our mission. We cannot expand the mission of our ministries if we only talk to people who are like us!

Jesus and Pope Francis remind us, by word and example, of the importance of inclusivity, dialogue, and relationship building with those who differ from us. As we often remind ourselves in the Catholic Charities world, "We don't serve people because they are Catholic, we serve people because we are catholic (which literally means "universal")."

Norbertine Brother Steve Herro hails from De Pere, Wisconsin and has served in Catholic social ministry for his religious community, the diocese of Green Bay, and Catholic Charities USA. He enjoys blogging, volunteering in the community, and lobbying legislators to promote the mission of the Church.

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