The temptation when trying to help those in need is to “do” for them. The sense of efficiency or of time saved when “doing” for those in need can be deceiving, creating an imbalanced relationship of dependence and little true progress.
The more challenging and worthier approach is to walk with those in need, empowering and educating them to do for themselves. In this way, they grow in skill, self-reliance and confidence, and in the ability to create a life of greater meaning and joy for themselves and their families.
The September 2024 issue of ONE magazine profiles examples of how the churches in the East are “Walking With Those on the Margins.”
- In India, the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic churches care for children, adults and elderly with H.I.V. and AIDS, many who have been ostracized by their families and communities.
- In Jordan, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary offer educational support, health care and mentoring for vulnerable girls, often neglected in a culture that privileges boys.
- In Ethiopia, the Sisters of Divine Providence for Abandoned Children feed and educate children who are among the poorest of the poor.
- In Armenia, the Armenian Catholic community provides ongoing housing, health care and employment assistance for refugees still disoriented by their forced displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh a year ago.
- And in the Middle East, where CNEWA’s operating agency, Pontifical Mission, supports all peoples caught in the crossfire in zones of conflict and crisis.
In demanding situations, the church is there, answering the call of the Gospel — and of Pope Francis — to walk alongside, encourage, empower and pray with those on the peripheries.
In this jubilee year for ONE magazine, we also continue to look back at some seminal issues in the church that CNEWA has covered in its 50 years of publication. In this edition, readers will find a reprint of the late Jesuit Father John Long’s 2005 essay, “A Century of Catholic-Orthodox Relations,” which offers a comprehensive look at the obstacles and advances made with the Orthodox churches on the slow path toward the Gospel call to unity.
Time and again and in all things — whether on the ground in the church’s pastoral and charitable work or in the halls of theological dialogue — “walking with” is the choice method.
Read more in the September 2024 edition of ONE.