We see the commercials all the time on TV: hungry children, victims of abuse, war-torn area or natural disaster footage, and our heart just aches. We text to donate, feel better, and move on. Or we connect with organizations and multi-national non-profits to "move up the stack" and treat the "meta-causes" of poverty and war, working hard but never seeing the fruits of our labor. The problem with charity in America is we give emotionally and abstractly. We rarely give directly to the people. Christian charity is different because it can never be broken from Christian community. The poor and great alike share at the one altar, so too ought we to share our table. This is the difference the gospel makes.
Our Speaker
Michael has been leading evangelization and ministry efforts for the past 10 years, both as a full-time parish staff member and as a speaker and consultant for parishes, dioceses, and Catholic campus ministries. He has his Undergraduate Degrees in both Philosophy and Theology, and a Masters in Arts in Theology and Christian Ministry, from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. He currently serves as the Coordinator of Evangelization at St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in The Woodlands. Michael is also the founder and creative director of LayEvangelist.com, and the producer and cohost of a Catholic young adult podcast Catching Foxes, which discusses the collision of Faith and Culture. He is married to his college sweetheart, Shannon, and they have about 1,000 children and get about 3 hours of sleep a night, which is alright by him.