“You hypocrite,” says Matthew In The Bible, ” first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Life is full of crisis and mystery, I often say, and I learn almost every day that this is true.
Here I am, born Jewish, turned Quaker, and now, in 2017, I find that my true spiritual leader is Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which practically invented anti-semitism and for centuries embraced intolerance religious conflict.
This week Pope Francis called upon his followers to follow the teachings of Christianity, and embrace the neediest and most vulnerable people. “It is hypocrisy,” he said in a speech in Rome, “to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, to toss out someone who is in need of help.”
The moral philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that “only the crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core. In politics, love is a stranger…”
Addressing an audience of German Catholics and Lutherans, the Pope seemed to be singling out the United States when he spoke of the contradiction of those who say they want to defend Christianity in the West, and on the other hand, are against refugees and other religions.
Francis said the sickness or the sin that Jesus condemns most is hypocrisy, which is precisely what is happening, he says, when someone claims to be a Christian but does not live according to Christ. You cannot be a Christian without living like a Christian.
The greatest hypocrisy I have witnessed in my lifetime is committed by people who claim to be devoutly religious who turn the backs on those in need, and in the name of virtue. I have many things to be ashamed of, but I do not believe I am a hypocrite.
I am not a Christian, but I strive to live like one in so many ways. I have read a lot about Jesus Christ, and I have no doubt where he would be in the world today. He would not be banning the needy he would be helping refugees and immigrants escape torment and tragedy and find safety and comfort.
How curious that Pope Francis is not my Father, my spiritual leader, even though I would not last long as a Catholic, I don’t think, nor would they want me.
In a sense Francis has called me to work to aid the refugees and immigrants struggling to make a new life for themselves in America, a nation that has, in many ways, turned its back on them whole incessantly claiming to be protecting Christian values.
I’m with Francis and Jesus, that is pretty good company for Jewish kid from Providence seeking some faith. I thank the Army Of Good for standing with me.
We have focused some of our good on the residents of the Mansion Assisted Care Facility and some on the 100 refugee children in the love and care of RISSE, the refugee and immigrant center based in Albany, N.Y. We have focused on the soccer team and the other children getting help there. They are new to America, and have seen too much. It is my goal to show their humanity and commonality, they are very American, they are no danger or threat to us.
So far, we have purchased a trip for the refugee children to the Great Adventure Park in Lake George in July. We have purchased a weekend retreat at the Pompanuck Farm Institute for the soccer team. We have bought the RISSE adult and children’s school a $1,000 screen and projector for their classes. We brought them 90 art and creativity kits.
We are buying new soccer uniforms, helping them to go on Saturday excursions to parks and lakes this summer. We have just launched a new scholarship program to give individual students special instruction for their passions and interests – art, computing, music, tutoring. This is, of course, open to boys and girls.
We presented some of the musicians in the program with a digital piano last Saturday, so they can begin to form a band or choir. All of the money for these programs and activities has been donated in full.
If you share Pope Francis’s caring view of the world, you can contribute to your own idea of faith right here.
I am opening a special bank account to place all donations for the children, so there will be a separate and clear record of the money and the work we are doing. I don’t want it getting mixed up in mine, and I need to separate it for tax reasons as well. This doesn’t seem to be a one-week thing.
If you wish to contribute, you can send a check to the Refugee Children’s Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Or you can send a contribution to me through the Paypal Friends And Family Program, I am [email protected].
My focus at the moment is the scholarship program, I think it is a powerful way to alter lives and promote creativity and skills. There is $700 in this account, as soon as I open it, a generous person of faith donated that money. I am hoping to get it to $1,000 and beginning searching for tutors and programs that meet the children’s interests and needs. Ali (Amjad Abdullah Mohammed), their teacher, and the RISSE staff will choose the recipients.
I will be taking photos of the scholarship children and writing about them, you will be able to see what you have done. As we identify their needs, we can explore ways to help them.
So thanks much for considering this. We do not need a large amount of money to do good, embrace our values, and change some lives. Small amounts from many people bring miracles. We do not choose to argue about what is good, we choose to do good.