poor

Features

Designer mittens

Mine for the giving

Mar 21, 2013 by Debra Bendis

I gave the woman a Dunkin Donuts gift card and told her to get something hot. She didn't thank me. She said, "Those mittens look warm."

Century Blogs

The real "hidden prosperity of the poor"

Feb 06, 2013 by Amy Frykholm

When I saw the headline in the New York Times—“The Hidden Prosperity of the Poor”— I thought of something very different than what Tom Edsall’s commentary is actually about.

Edsall highlights an insidious and specious argument about income inequality made on the right. In essence, the cost of basic human needs has gone down in relation to income, while consumer goods have become cheaper and cheaper.

Century Blogs

Three common distortions about poverty

Nov 08, 2012 by Amy Frykholm

It is true, as a Century editorial recently argued, that poverty did not get the attention it deserved in the presidential campaign. Even more frustrating are the comments often made about poverty and social program when they do come up. Let’s look at three common distortions.

Features

The poor are still with us

Peter Edelman, policy advocate

Nov 05, 2012 by Amy Frykholm

"I don't think we have laid the ground for a national conversation on poverty. People just don't know the facts."

From the Editors

The 16 percent

Nov 29, 2011

A record number of Americans are poor. And by any measure, the poverty rate is rising.

On the Shelf

Burning Bright

Stories

by Ron Rash

Stories of hardship

Nov 15, 2011 by Debra Bendis

Ron Rash writes stories that have as much impact as any I've read; those in this collection often left me feeling as if I'd been kicked. Rash lives in and writes about Appalachia, and his stories never leave that home, even when they're set at the end of the civil war ("Lincolnites").

Books

Rethinking Poverty

Income, Assets, and the Catholic Social Justice Tradition

By James P. Bailey

Rethinking Poverty, by James P. Bailey

Nov 16, 2011 reviewed by Shaun Casey

James Bailey has written a superb, creative and timely book whose primary audience should be the U.S. Congress. Unfortu­nately, the current members of Congress do not seem to possess the intellectual wattage necessary to profit from it.

Cover Story

Whatever happened to liberation theology?

God's "option for the poor"

Oct 20, 1999 by Nancy Bedford

Not long ago, a retired pastor and theologian who had lived and taught in Buenos Aires in the early 1970s came back to visit. He had some pressing questions: What does liberation theology mean to you people today? What authors do you read in your seminary classes? What aspects of liberation theology still seem relevant to you?

Features

A refugee for dinner

It’s not in the ministry manual

Nov 15, 2000 by Mary Ann Cejka

Fernando did not look like what I thought a refugee should look like. He was fat, for one thing. The beige polyester suit he wore was tight on him, especially around the belly. He reeked of cologne. He had one gold front tooth and around his neck was a matching gold chain. The pendant dangling from the chain appeared to be a phallus.

Features

The widow's hand

Cycle of grace

Sep 27, 2000 by Heidi Neumark

Manny, the treasurer of our church, is often the bearer of grim tidings. When he brings me bad news it makes me think I should become a more aggressive fund raiser. But if I spend more time raising money, how can I be a pastor? And if I don’t, how will we remain a church? How much longer can we go on like the widow of Zarephath?