A Gospel Mandate, Not a Political Choice: Why We Must Act Now
Last Friday, I issued a letter regarding the current government shutdown and the moral failure of leadership and service by all parties involved in allowing it to hurt the needy and the innocent.
I received a number of responses from some of our Vincentians. Interestingly, as many thought I was too easy on the Democrats as those who thought I was too easy on the Republicans and the Administration.
Those who say I didn’t fault one side or the other may not understand the non-partisan nature of our advocacy work and, therefore, the point I was trying to make.
The issue isn’t who is more to blame. The issue is the proper response from people of faith.
Simply put, the government shutdown and its impact on the innocent and vulnerable is not a political problem requiring political solutions. It is a moral emergency demanding a Gospel response.
This week, millions of Americans face an impossible choice: feed their children or keep the lights on. Parents stare at empty cupboards. Elderly neighbors skip meals. Infants lack formula. And yet, in the corridors of power, ideological brinkmanship continues, while the vulnerable become collateral damage in a struggle that has nothing to do with their survival and everything to do with partisan victory.
This is not a moment for political hand-wringing. This is a moment for faithful action rooted in the deepest truths of our Catholic faith, truths that transcend left and right, Republican and Democrat, conservative and progressive. When the poor cry out, there is no ideology, only injustice. When a child is hungry, there is no political debate, only sin.
The False Gospel of Political Neutrality
Scripture does not permit us the luxury of neutrality on this question. Jesus does not speak carefully around suffering; He names it. He does not equivocate about our duty; He commands it. “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). This is not political rhetoric. This is not a talking point. This is the measuring rod by which Christ will judge us.
The prophet Isaiah cuts through all political complexity with searing clarity: “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). There is no footnote that says, “unless it’s inconvenient.” There is no asterisk that permits us to abandon the poor because budget negotiations stall. Justice is not negotiable. The dignity of the vulnerable is not a bargaining chip.
The real scandal here is that both sides have failed simultaneously. This is indeed a bipartisan moral failure, perhaps the only true bipartisan achievement of recent years. Both Republicans and Democrats who permit ideological struggle to weaponize hunger have betrayed the Gospel mandate. Neither party owns this failure alone; both have collaborated in it. And for those of us called to follow Christ, that shared culpability demands a shared response that transcends partisan loyalty.
What Vincentian Charity Demands of Us
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam understood something crucial: Social reform begins not in legislative chambers or theoretical debate, but in the lived encounter with suffering. His famous words remain a burning challenge to our comfortable distance from reality:
“The knowledge of social well-being and reform is to be learned, not from books, nor from the public platform, but in climbing the stairs to the poor man’s garret, sitting by his bedside, feeling the same cold that pierces him, sharing the secret of his lonely heart and troubled mind.”
St. Vincent de Paul spent his life answering this call. He did not debate whether charity or justice was more important, he understood they are inseparable. Real compassion demands both the immediate works of mercy and persistent advocacy for systems that prevent suffering in the first place. Feeding a hungry child at our door is essential. Demanding that no child should go to bed hungry because politicians chose ideology over basic human decency is equally essential.
This is the Vincentian charism — to see Christ in the face of the poor, and to fight, with our voices, our presence, and our persistent action, to remove the obstacles that keep them suffering. No, my friends, being a Vincentian does not mean simply serving in silence and staying out of the important issues of the day. There are some who believe that our only obligation is to do works of charity. But that is not true. If you read our history and the words of our founders and our Patron Saint, the call for advocacy and action is clear:
Politics – never! Advocacy for the poor, needy, deprived, and vulnerable – always!
What We Must Do Now: A Call to Concrete Action
If we claim to follow Christ, if we claim to walk in the footsteps of Ozanam and Vincent de Paul, we cannot respond to this crisis with thoughts and prayers alone. We must act. Here is what conscience demands:
First, encounter the reality. Do not let statistics numb you. Behind the figure of “40 million SNAP recipients” are your neighbors, your parish members, families in your community who will go hungry. As Ozanam insisted, climb those stairs. Call local food banks. Learn their names. Learn their stories. Let the suffering Christ look at you from their eyes and shatter your complacency.
Second, use your voice. Contact your representatives, all of them, and demand the immediate restoration of every program meant to protect the innocent. Do not ask politely. Demand. This is not a request; it is an obligation rooted in scripture and centuries of Catholic social teaching. Tell them that partisan victory purchased with a hungry child’s tears is not victory – it is sin.
Third, demand solutions, not blame. We are not called to pick a political team. We are called to stand with the poor. That means asking: Which elected officials will prioritize the vulnerable? Which leaders will refuse to use hunger as a negotiating tactic? Vote, speak, and advocate based not on partisan loyalty but on the simple question: Who will protect those who cannot protect themselves?
Fourth, help strengthen our local response. Food banks, assistance programs, community networks cannot replace what government programs provide, but they become lifelines when those programs fail. Bring more people into SVdP. Fundraise for your Conference and Council. Help build and grow relationships of solidarity. In these acts we model the world Christ calls us to build.
Fifth, sustain the witness. When the shutdown ends, and it will, we cannot retreat into silence. The systems that made this crisis possible will still exist. The vulnerability of the poor will remain. We must become persistent advocates, not just crisis responders. This is the long work of justice.
No Ideology Required, Only Faithfulness
Those of us called to serve in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul know this truth intimately: the Gospel makes no room for indifference to suffering. It makes no room for the excuse that “politics is complicated.” Yes, policy is complex. Yes, reasonable people disagree on solutions. But there is no reasonable disagreement about this: When the innocent are weaponized in political struggle, that struggle becomes immoral.
This statement is not partisan. It is prophetic. It judges all sides equally. It invites all people of conscience, regardless of political affiliation, to choose solidarity with the poor over loyalty to political teams. It calls each of us to conversion: to examine where our true allegiance lies.
The Urgent Moment
We are in November. Every day that lifeline programs remain interrupted, the human cost grows heavier. Every day that passes without restoration of essential support programs is another day a child goes to bed unsure if there will be breakfast. This is not hyperbole; this is the lived reality for millions.
The question before us is not political but spiritual. It is the ancient question posed by every prophet, every saint, every authentic voice of the Gospel: Will you act? Will you use whatever influence you have – your voice, your vote, your presence, your prayers transformed into deeds – to demand that those entrusted with power choose justice over ideology?
St. Vincent de Paul’s life answers this question for us. We are called to more than charity; we are called to advocacy. We are called to more than private mercy; we are called to public justice. We are called to more than kindness; we are called to solidarity.
A Final Word
In Matthew 25, Christ describes the final judgment. He does not ask what political party we belonged to. He does not ask whether we had ideological purity. He asks a single, piercing question: Did we feed the hungry? Did we see Him in the suffering and act?
In this moment, the answer is clear. Our government has failed the Gospel mandate. Now, the mandate falls to us. Every Vincentian, every person of faith, every advocate for justice must rise to meet this crisis with the full force of our conviction and our action.
We cannot build the kingdom of God on the bones of children made hungry by political gamesmanship. We cannot claim to follow Christ while remaining silent as the vulnerable are sacrificed. We cannot accept the false necessity of such cruelty.
The call is urgent. The work is clear. The time is now.
May our prayers become deeds. May our words become action. May our solidarity with the poor become the witness that transforms a nation. And may we never forget that in serving the least among us, we serve Christ Himself.
This is not optional. This is the Gospel. This is our calling. This is what it means to follow Jesus in our time.
Peace and God’s blessings,
John
Wonderful expression of our Faith ! Thank you.