Mass today left me enraged before it even started. For the second week in a row, a guy came in off the street, begging people for money. He would approach each person, including me, in a scripted posture of a humble man in need of help. Not a single person would help him. Not me, not the guy behind me, not anyone. I was and am so proud of us for unanimously turning him away! I am proud of my priest for turning him away as well.
You see, there are plenty of people who pretend to be homeless or in need and they victimize churches like mine by attempting to make people feel guilty. The reality is that most of them aren’t even in need. They make their living by emotionally manipulating people. They do it by entering churches. They do it by standing at stop signs and traffic lights, holding signs that look as pitiful as they do.
I got so tired of the guy that I stood up and calmly escorted him to the door. I pushed the door open and nudged him onto the stoop and into the bone-chilling cold. I shut the door behind him, leaving him to deal with the consequences of his poor life choices. No regrets!
Now, was this specific guy actually in need? I don’t know. I don’t care. It is not my job to feed the hungry or help the otherwise needy. That’s someone else’s job.
Lest you feel that we were cruel, just know that our parish hosts a food pantry twice a week. We have a thrift store where people can buy clothes and other needs for very little money. We already do too much as it is. The best solution would be to not feed the animals, but there’s nothing that I can do that will stop the pantry from existing. Consistently having less food than demand is doing that for them.
A few days ago, I wrote about a woman who did what people are calling a “social experiment” on TikTok. This woman “tested” numerous churches by calling them with a recording of a crying baby in the background. She begged for baby formula, saying that her baby had gone hungry for two days.
Fortunately, most of the churches refused to help her. Only a few were fooled by what is, to me, a blatant scam designed to manipulate and victimize innocent churches and their people. The reality is that churches get lied to all the time, so of course they’re going to be cautious. And, as it turned out in this case, they were being lied to.
When churches didn’t respond to her satisfaction, she posted their information on TikTok, knowing full well that people would harass the churches and their staff. She had to have known that each church has its own procedure and policy. Not every church is in a financial position to just hand out money to random people who beg.
It is not our parish’s responsibility feed our little trespasser. It is not my obligation, nor is it the obligation of my fellow Catholics to reach into their wallets or purses at every sob story that they hear.
Yes, today made me quite angry, and hopefully, this guy got the clue and will never return.