It's not just working class people who have been saying they don't feel like their concerns are being taken seriously either. I've seen comments from Americans that have fallen on hard times and who say they feel invisible at church. Years ago I read a very sad story in a secular magazine that interviewed a newly widowed woman who went from middle class to struggling overnight. After years of faithfully supporting the parish charities she felt terribly betrayed and humiliated by the cold reception she received from the ladies who ran the her church's food pantry. Although she saw people who appeared to be immigrants receiving groceries with no questions about their legal status asked, the pantry volunteers demanded that she provide proof of her neediness and wouldn't give her anything. When she sat in her pew during Mass and had to listen to her priest bang on about Americans being selfish if they weren't helping illegal immigrants she wanted to ask how he felt about kindness to native born American parishioners. It sounded like her Faith was shaken. I hope the poor lady found another parish or at least got the chance to tell Fr. how the pantry was being run.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Is the Church in America out of touch with working class people? I'd say yes.
I've just read an article in the Catholic Herald about how the Church in America doesn't seem to know or care about working class Americans anymore. I've thought that for years. In my diocese unless you belong to a parish that has a large Hispanic, Vietnamese or Korean population it's just about impossible to find a Sunday Mass after 4PM in the suburbs and of course those Masses are not in English. People like my husband who do not live a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday life have to make a huge effort to get Mass in a lot of places. Check your parish for the times of the Pre-Cana or the Baptism class and you'll find they're usually at times when a blue collar person has to take off from work. Want to become Catholic? You may need to attend the Spanish OCIA or race over to the English OCIA without any time to change out of your work clothes or shower.
It's not just working class people who have been saying they don't feel like their concerns are being taken seriously either. I've seen comments from Americans that have fallen on hard times and who say they feel invisible at church. Years ago I read a very sad story in a secular magazine that interviewed a newly widowed woman who went from middle class to struggling overnight. After years of faithfully supporting the parish charities she felt terribly betrayed and humiliated by the cold reception she received from the ladies who ran the her church's food pantry. Although she saw people who appeared to be immigrants receiving groceries with no questions about their legal status asked, the pantry volunteers demanded that she provide proof of her neediness and wouldn't give her anything. When she sat in her pew during Mass and had to listen to her priest bang on about Americans being selfish if they weren't helping illegal immigrants she wanted to ask how he felt about kindness to native born American parishioners. It sounded like her Faith was shaken. I hope the poor lady found another parish or at least got the chance to tell Fr. how the pantry was being run.
It's not just working class people who have been saying they don't feel like their concerns are being taken seriously either. I've seen comments from Americans that have fallen on hard times and who say they feel invisible at church. Years ago I read a very sad story in a secular magazine that interviewed a newly widowed woman who went from middle class to struggling overnight. After years of faithfully supporting the parish charities she felt terribly betrayed and humiliated by the cold reception she received from the ladies who ran the her church's food pantry. Although she saw people who appeared to be immigrants receiving groceries with no questions about their legal status asked, the pantry volunteers demanded that she provide proof of her neediness and wouldn't give her anything. When she sat in her pew during Mass and had to listen to her priest bang on about Americans being selfish if they weren't helping illegal immigrants she wanted to ask how he felt about kindness to native born American parishioners. It sounded like her Faith was shaken. I hope the poor lady found another parish or at least got the chance to tell Fr. how the pantry was being run.
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