Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1546997
15 DENVER CATHOLIC | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2026 One Small Act Can Start a Movement. Christ Child Society members work diligently to provide newborns with essential items and children with the resources they need for academic success. The joy of seeing a child receive the tools they need to thrive is truly priceless. Join us today and make a lasting impact! Contact: Carol Pickle 625-485-8101 capasadena@gmail.com • DESIGN/BUILD • DECKS/COVERS • GARAGES • BASEMENTS • KITCHENS • BATHROOMS • WINDOWS/DOORS • CONCRETE • FENCES 720.217.1263 aldermanbuilders.com parishioner Matthew Alderman Full Service General Contractor Premium Remodels and Additions P O V E R T Y BY PHIL COUTURE Director of Formation Christ in the City How do we define poverty? If it is a lack of basic material needs, then it makes sense to focus on the most visible challenges: money, jobs, the market, social services, outreach programs, housing programs. Providing these goods should fix the problem. This relief-based approach can go a long way, provided the need is strictly material. As basic as this approach is, the Church starts with an even more fundamental point of departure: the person. People don't just have material needs because they aren't just material beings. It seems wrong to watch another person struggle to survive, as an animal may be content to do. God illuminates this sense of dignity in revealing that people, unlike the rest of the cre- ated world, were made in his image and likeness. We can receive everything we need to survive, but that won't be enough to live. To flourish, we need those things that most define us, those things that make us most like God: relationship and communion. From this fundamental principle, the Church addresses the poor and homeless not as prob- lems to be solved, but as persons to be loved. As Jesus loved us enough to enter into solidarity with our human condition and forge commu- nion, so we are called to be in solidarity with all people. Everything I have, material and spiritual, is in service of solidarity with others, no matter how poor their condition. This love is lofty, but it cannot be given in the abstract. It becomes real when we, personally and as a community, attend to the names and faces around us, orga- nizing ourselves according to the greatest mate- rial and relational needs. ⊲