“Feed my lamb, tend my sheep”
PASTORAL CARE OF RECEPTION / WELCOME TO THE HOMELESS - A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION -
“REGARD FOR THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON”
THE “IMAGO DEI” “Whenever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt. 25:31-46)
The teachings of the social doctrine rests on one basic principle: “human beings are the foundation, the cause and the end of every social institution.” (MM # 219)
“all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (US Declaration of Independence).
PASTORAL CARE • To take care of the total well-being of a person grounded on the Gospel values and acted through a missionary initiatives of the Church. "Feed my lambs, tend my sheep..." (Jn 21:15)
• Pastoral Care aims for the promotion of human dignity by / through welfare assistance coupled with religious and spiritual dimensions.
•This will also includes advocacy against a social system that causes some individuals to live in a miserable state of life against their will.
The root cause of homelessness is moral and spiritual poverty
• change of values from moral ascendancy to moral degradation. • secularism and materialism become the language of a seemingly “amoral” society.
The first victim of moral degradation is the family where family values have been neglected because family members are deeply focused on “having rather than being, competition rather than cooperation.”
“A metaphysical understanding of the relations between persons is therefore of great benefit for their development.” (CV Chap. 5) Solidarity and fraternity are antidotes to isolation, and also essential for effective development.
Employment is a basic right of a person and should be upheld by the State among its constituency.
discrepancy of labor remuneration: between local & foreign labor market it pushes the local labor market to the edge and individuals who have no skills, un(less)educated are forced to live in shame in the gutter. Based on the comparative unemployment statistic of the Bureau of Labor that there is a rise of 5.90% in 2010 from 4.10% in 2009 with 633,000 local people looking for jobs.
A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY There is always a power struggle between the patriarchal concept and women’s equality.
husband who cannot emotionally and psychologically connect to his wife
kids to find comfort in the streets when time is ripe
wife becomes the victim of abuse and domestic violence. There is a need to "redefine the societal priorities and hierarchies of values� (CCC # 226) as well as re-evangelizing social norms that will gear towards common good.
HOMELESS-BY-CHOICE
HOMELESS-BY-NO-CHOICE
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They didn’t choose to be in the street, being in the street is the effect of their negative experiences that lost their self-esteem and broke their aspirations in life. The lack or unavailability of resources, be it (moral, spiritual, interpersonal relationship, and material), also the contributing factors why they keep on living in the streets. If these resources will be provided to them these resources will become the fundamentals of their aspirations in returning to the mainstream society.
Physical & Mental Disabilities, Old age
•Taiwan’s birth rate is below 2.0% and fertility rate is so low with contraceptive mentality is now overtaking in the minds of the Taiwanese. After 50 or more years demography will be down and no one will take care of their olds and sick people. • Taiwan Church should look into the future by doing something at present. - CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN LIFE vs THE CULTURE OF DEATH!
A House of Welcome / A Church that cares “Whatever you did to the least of my brethren you did unto me.� (Mt. 25:31-46)
The Staff
dormitory
preparing for winter
some skills
THE GOOD SAMARITAN WOMEN’S CONCERN CENTER
The Comfort in the Streets? THE “IMAGO DEI” “isolation is one of the causes of various forms of poverty, including self inflicted isolation where the individual elects to withdraw from society” (cv 5/synopsis)
“foxes have lairs, birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay down his head” (Mt 8:18-22)
“Solidarity and fraternity are antidotes to isolation, and also essential for effective development” (CV Chap. 5/Synopsis)
A Pastoral Care of Reception “Service and justice to those in need measure love and salvation.” “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (US Declaration of Independence)
“individual human beings are the foundation, the cause and the end of every social institution.” (MM # 219)
Love & Care
Recommendations for the local Church: •“Redefine societal priorities and hierarchies of values” in the pastoral program of the local church; •Evangelization of social norms that will gear towards common good; •Establish a pastoral policy cohesion for pastoral responses to the needs of the homeless among dioceses in the country; •A diocese should support an existing half-way house/s or establish one for the homeless in the Diocese where there are numbers of homeless and give much consideration on gender sensitivity. = This can only be done if a diocese or the national conference of bishops will collectively formulate a Theological/Pastoral reflection that touches mainly on the issue of homelessness.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS: •Parishes near the place where homeless frequently stay should organize among its parishioners an apostolate for the homeless and incorporate it into parish pastoral program. •Local Seminarians should have a pastoral exposure with the homeless and formulate a theological reflection that will encourage participation of the laity in homeless pastoral program.
THANK YOU! ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR DAY