“Churches have people who love people,” Linda explains. “They respond to relationships. That’s why government hasn’t solved the poverty program. They throw money at it. It’s the church that has relationships that can help people out of poverty. I believe the answer to all the world’s problems is the local church.”

 St. Paul’s did not commit lightly. “We studied it and spoke to the founder over several meetings before we introduced it to the parish at all the Masses,” says Robert. “There are many aspects to it. Each meeting is a little different and you keep progressing based on what is needed: budget planning; career opportunities; how to write resumes; how to go for a job interview; how to start a small business. We also have people coming in from the professional world” as speakers.

 The group at St. Paul’s is the largest they’ve assembled. “We try to keep the classes under 10,” Linda says. “By the time you have participants, budget counselors and mentors, that’s 30 people. With a small group you have more intimacy, more honesty. Each class is two hours. For the first hour they’ll watch a film that is practical, then they’ll have discussion. People talk; they open up about what’s happening in their lives.”

Getting started

The first session at St. Paul’s was about being organized, says Linda, who came to watch. “Regis [the facilitator] went around the room and asked every participant, ‘Do you use a calendar?’ One girl said, ‘I stay in trouble because I miss appointments all the time.’ We actually gave them calendars at that class. And we told them, ‘Write in the Escape From Poverty meeting for every week on the calendar. Put in birthdays, school activities, special events, and bring it back and show us.’” They did just that.

 Later in the program, “We actually have a class on how to decorate on a shoestring. If you live in a dark, ugly home, you don’t even want to get out of bed and face it. So many of our participants deal with depression because they feel so hopeless. If they wake up and look around and feel cheerful, it affects everything.”

 Another class called “Spiritual Smarts” is a character study based on the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. “There’s no doctrine; it’s all behavior-based,” Linda says. “We ask, ‘How do you handle life when life doesn’t go your way? How do you handle it when you get a bag of lemons?’” No matter what happened to him, “Joseph always did the right thing.” Values that may seem obvious are repeatedly reinforced in class. “You shouldn’t lie or steal or cheat; you should work hard, you should be responsible. We all agree on that and those are things we focus on.”

• The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is featuring friars Valens Waldschmidt, Luke Simon and Hilarion Kistner in its TV ad for the Retirement Fund for Religious. See it at: Fund.
• They had quite a sendoff for Fr. Elgar Nadon when he left the Philippines for the long trip to Cincinnati. Custos Felix Jungco Jr. sent Jeff Scheeler links to video of the festivities posted on the province website (http://ofmsouthphils.org/) and its YouTube channel at youtube.
• The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, D.C.,  is planning informal monthly gatherings to support the Year of Consecrated Life (Nov. 30, 2014-Feb. 2, 2016).  Scheduled from 7-8 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, the gatherings are open to women and men in all forms of consecrated life and will feature a “resource person” to focus the conversation. Tentatively titled “Claiming Our Future: Women and Men Religious in Conversation with …”, each get-together will be simulcast at: www.myfranciscan.org.