Almoner

 

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. ² Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

³ But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:⁴ That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6 King James Version (KJV)

In the venerable King James bible Jesus encourages his listeners to be generous to others in a modest way, and the now "heirloom" words "alms" is used repeatedly in reference to those gifts. I was surprised to discover that while other language is updated,the word alms is used in the New Revised Standard Version as well. The Message settles for "help someone out" which is explanatory but wordy by comparison.

I did not know that the pope has an almoner, someone who raises funds, or alms,  for charitable acts and then distributes them. This is not an "anyone can do this" position. The current almoner, Konrad Krajewski is a Polish archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. It's interesting to see that this isn't just someone who wanders around giving out a few lira here and there, like Doug Ford handing out Tim Horton's gift cards at a Toronto Housing Christmas party.


Pope Francis' Almoner Archbishop Konrad Krajewski announced Thursday that three shower stalls will be added to the public restrooms in St. Peter’s Square so that the homeless in the area have a place to wash up. Due to begin on November 17, the construction project will be tacked on to remodeling initiative for the restrooms that the Vatican already has in the works. Krajewski told La Stampa that he got the idea for the restrooms after speaking with a homeless man on Rome’s Via della Conciliazione in October. Franco, a man from Sardinia, had reportedly been living on the streets for the past ten years. It was the man’s 50th birthday, so Krajewski offered to take him out for a dinner. But Franco initially refused, saying that he “smelled.”

“I took him [to dinner] with me nonetheless,” Krajewski said in a translation provided by The Local. “We went to a Chinese restaurant. During dinner, he explained to me that you can always find some food in Rome. What is missing is a place to wash." Krajewski is now encouraging other Catholic parishes in Rome to follow suit by building their own showers for the poor.“It is not simple, because it is easier to make sandwiches than run a shower service,” Krajewski said. “We need volunteers, towels, underwear.” When asked if tourists would be offended by the presence of showers so close to the Vatican’s famous colonnades, Krajewski responded.  “The Basilica exists in order to keep the Body of Christ, and we serve Jesus’ suffering body by serving the poor. Always, in the history of Rome, the poor congregated around the Basilicas.”

Granted, this seems to contravene Jesus' teaching about doing this on the QT, but I'm glad Krajewski shared this initiative.

Any thoughts about this?