Edmund´s
approach to the poor.
There is a lot of talk about extreme
poverty nowadays; be it intellectual, spiritual or
lack of employment among others. The poor are tired of
political promises; are not capacitated for modern work,
frustrated in surviving, and totally disillusioned
with he sects invading their neighbourhoods. Edmund’s
Brothers are faced with a huge challenge to-day. A small
reflection on different approaches may help us to adjust
our approach to poverty in our various ministries.
The Classical European approach is well known to us and is
central to our mission as educators. The poor are seen as
lacking material goods and this lack is seen as something
bad, evil. To be poor is a disgrace, something negative, to
be inferior. This condition of poverty has to be eliminated
because it destroys the person. Our response is to educate
the poor so that they may have a dignified life.
Not alone is this approach not adequate but it does not
confront the problem; it denies the poor their identity as
persons and indirectly proposes the rich as the model
lifestyle.
Another approach to the topic of poverty is the academic,
the work of the professionals. (How many of them are living
on what should be given to the poor? But that is another
topic) These people are preoccupied with statistics. A
century ago it was the “family basket”, a house
and clothes that were necessary, if one lacked these they
were considered poor. Today the researchers say that
14% of the population does not have a second pair of shoes
and 25% are unable to save 10 pounds a month for their
retirement. All the statistics remain on paper.
Then there is the Latin-American concept which accepts the
universal concept that the poor lack material goods but
this is not seen as bad nor is it considered good; it is
simply the reality, a fact of life. This approach avoids
the moral dilemma of good or bad. It is something like
saying that Europeans are white, Africans are black and
South Americans are bronzed. These observations have no
moral implications because they do not judge the
values.
Edmund recognised Christ present in the poor, and his
response was in this non judgemental approach. He offered a
personalized Christian education as the way
forward.