Editorial

Most of us will be spending Thanksgiving with families and friends. We will sit down to a delicious dinner of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie - the wonderful traditional feast.

We are fortunate. God has blessed us with abundance and we must thank God for these blessings.

Homeless in our midst. However, while we enjoy that scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner, others are not so fortunate. Up to 600,000 men, women, and children are homeless every day in the United States, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About 3.5 million people are homeless each year.

In addition, Catholic Trends reports that more families with children are homeless. A U.S. Conference of Mayors survey found that this group accounted for 41 percent of the homeless population in 2002. That figure was up five percent from two years earlier.

The length of time it takes people to find decent housing has risen dramatically. Issues that lead to much of the homelessness include substance abuse, domestic abuse, and mental health conditions, making it difficult to secure permanent housing for people in need.

Help from church, community. Jan Denney, director of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Springfield, Mass., said the church must help by putting the needs of the homeless first and working "collaboratively with others to really look at how to best meet their needs."

In our state, Governor Jim Doyle has appointed a new Inter-Agency Council on Homelessness to create a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness in Wisconsin. This council is meeting with agencies such as the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) in Madison to learn more about the needs of homeless people.

For the past five years, the IHN has been offering help and hope to homeless families. It is part of the national Interfaith Hospitality Network, a program that helps religious and community organizations develop networks of shelter, food, and aid to homeless families.

In the past two years, IHN has helped more than 60 local families. One of them is Patrice Latif, a mother of three who was on the verge of homelessness. With help from IHN, she now has a good job and a home.

Churches in the Madison area - including Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish - are part of the IHN, which received a grant this year from the Diocese of Madison's Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

Sharing our gifts. All of us can help support efforts to help the homeless and poor, including the IHN, the CCHD, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Catholic Charities, and the Diocese of Madison's Catholic Multicultural Center (St. Martin House and Centro Guadalupano).

Share some of the gifts you have received with those in need at Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season. Pray for the homeless and those in need. And encourage our elected officials to find long-term solutions to the plight of the homeless and hungry in our communities.

Mary C. Uhler

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Sharing gifts with others best way to give thanks

To the editor:

Thanksgiving is a day to thank God for our blessings. Since our blessings are gifts from God, sharing our gifts with those in need is one of the best ways to give thanks.

St. John Chrysostom wrote, "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and to deprive them of life!" Matthew 25 reminds us that when we feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty, we do so to Christ.

We can share with those in need by contributing to a food pantry, the Campaign for Human Development, or in other ways. Maybe we can visit, call, or write to a lonely person. The parish bulletin, homily, the Catholic Herald, other religious sources, and the Holy Spirit can show us additional ways to give thanks by sharing.

Before our Thanksgiving meal, we can pray for the starving who would gladly devour our scraps if they could. We can also thank God for blessings by prayers at home, while driving, or anywhere.

Since Eucharist means thanksgiving, we can thank God in graced ways by participating in Thanksgiving Mass. Or we might attend a Thanksgiving ecumenical service.

Enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving.

Fr. Don Lange, Ridgeway