By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-17 17:53:19 | Updated at 2025-01-17 22:25:40
4 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // Parishes in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia and its local Catholic Charities office have been working hard to offer assistance to those affected by skyrocketing housing prices.
According to the Arlington Catholic Herald, St. John Bosco Parish in Arlington helps residents cover rent and utility through funds from the parish’s thrift store. It provided $45,000 to 154 residents in 2024.
The store’s manager, Donna Armstrong, told the Herald, “Everyone is pretty much saying the same thing: we’re seeing a need for rent assistance and utilities.”
She added, “You are reflecting God to the people who walk into this store, and I want them to see him when they interact with us.”
The article explains that the store’s proceeds go to St. John Bosco’s parish outreach hotline. Don Jurgensmeyer, a retired U.S. Navy master chief, operates the parish outreach center by fielding and vetting calls, checking for repeat callers, and walking applicants through submitting a request.
“Over the past two years, we have donated almost $100,000,” Jurgensmeyer said.
Other parishes in the diocese also provide financial aid to those in need, many through the help of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Larry Ferguson, president of the society’s Arlington Diocese District Council, said the organization serves 13 parishes in the diocese.
“In the last year, in addition to the more important spiritually based encouragement, we provided for over 16,000 families. We distributed over $2 million of direct financial assistance to them,” Ferguson said. “A little more than half went for rental assistance that prevented evictions, while another large share paid utility bills that kept homes warm in the winter, cool in the summer. Our all-volunteer membership lives by the words, ‘No form of poverty is foreign to the Society.’”
Catholic Charities also provides housing assistance to those in need. Mary McNamee, its program director of emergency assistance, said that the organization provides temporary assistance.
“It’s really to help the person who’s struggling,” McNamee said. “We want to transform them so that they can put that past behind them, and they can move forward on good footing.”
Father Augustine Minh Hai Tran, pastor of St. John Bosco, noted that this temporary assistance is rooted in Catholic social teaching.
“We’re trying to help people to stand on their own two feet. We don’t want to be creating a crutch, so that they depend on us,” he said.
Fr. Tran added that helping others through charity can open the door to evangelization.
“Before you embrace the faith, you’re a person,” he said. “We rebuild, rekindle that humanity in us, and then they can embrace the faith.”
