Reply to Catholic Mass today seemed to endorse austerity and anti-SNAP benefits?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here is the lectionary for this Sunday:

https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

It has been set for a long time, so the appearance of the one out four passages in which Paul talks about how the the early Christians worked to feed themselves instead of relying on the communities where they traveled to evangelize to provide charity.

If an idiot priest chose to take this one verse out of context and interpret it to mean that there shouldn’t be SNAP, well that’s not a surprise because it’s a known fact that there are MAGA priests, but that is certainly not the only way to interpret it, nor is it consistent with other passages like the story of loaves and fishes.

Now, if someone wanted to interpret it to mean that Christians who travel to Evangelize should be very careful not to burden the communities they visit then I would agree. [/quote]

I’m OP. The priests didn’t literally say “SNAP” or “welfare” or “EBT” or any other gov assistance terms in the news and viral on social media the last few weeks — that was me reading between the lines. It just seemed awfully coincidental two Catholic churches which are totally unaffiliated with each other had the same reading and two priests had similar interpretations and expansions essentially demonizing poor people on welfare as lazy, idle, and lacking dignity — albeit the hometown priest was much more aggressive and even used some old school urban “welfare queen” dog whistles.[/quote]

Every Catholic church in the US, maybe in the world, uses the same lectionary (a document that assigns readings to days), so it's not really a "coincidence" that two Churches would use the same readings this Sunday.  But the priest didn't choose them.

I'm not defending his choice to interpret it that way.  The Catholic church is very much in favor of feeding people, and does a lot of work towards that goal.  This is MAGA infecting the church, and not the position of the church as a whole.

Here is a statement from one of the top Catholic archbishops on the SNAP issue.

https://www.usccb.org/news/2025/archbishop-broglio-urges-funding-lifesaving-programs-and-end-federal-government-shutdown

I disagree with the USCCB on many things.  But not on this.  [/quote]

Interesting. I didn’t know the readings were the same everywhere. I guess I've never attended Mass twice in the same weekend or day. It was totally random that I just kept listening to the live feed of my hometown church.

I remain suspicious this reading was chosen for this weekend with everything in the news. I didn’t feel comfortable with the reading and the even crueler sermons after. It didn’t feel Catholic to me. And I know my husband and I weren’t the only two people in the pews side-eying what we were hearing. [/quote]

Are the readings I linked the right ones?  Because those are from the lectionary, which is a document that was written many years ago to assure that someone who attends Mass every Sunday hears the entire Bible over the course of 3 years.

I agree that the sermons you describe seem very un-Catholic.  I also agree with you that the last few weeks before Advent have some very depressing passages.   But I would argue that the priests you heard interpreted the epistle incorrectly.  [/quote]

No, the Lectionary (which is the book used at Mass that contains readings from the Bible) does not contain the entire Bible.

From the USCCB's website: What's the difference between a Bible and a Lectionary? A Lectionary is composed of the readings and the responsorial psalm assigned for each Mass of the year (Sundays, weekdays, and special occasions). The readings are divided by the day or the theme (baptism, marriage, vocations, etc.) rather than according to the books of the Bible. Introductions and conclusions have been added to each reading. Not all of the Bible is included in the Lectionary.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible/faq.cfm
[/quote]

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