Just Visiting?

Like many young women, I'm a fan of Jane Austen, the 19th century novelist whose heroines encounter social tribulations and exciting scoundrels as they search for love. The characters mostly lead sheltered lives and are concerned with balls, gossip, friendships, and travelling before they end up with proper husbands.

As we paid a call to Visitation House (a home/program that the Sisters have created that enables homeless families to obtain housing and work) yesterday, I felt a bit like the title character of Austen's novel Emma. In this book, Emma- a young, charming, well-to-do women- spends much of her time paying visits to others and some of her time embarking on charitable or other well-intended causes. Like her, I am now in a comfortable place, (I still have the luxuries that other Americans do) I spend free time mingling with others and attending dinners, and yesterday, I went on a visit to learn more about a social cause.

Driving up to to the home reinforced the notion that I had stepped back in time a few centuries. The large, white two-story house has columns and wrap-around porches on both floors. Inside, the house is clean and furnished with wooden furniture, soft couches and a formal dining table.

Sister explained that Visitation House was established around 30 years ago in response to the Church's calling for a preferential option for the poor. (As I understand it, this basically means attending to the neediest.) Visitation House was influenced by the Catholic Worker movement, and began as a place where the homeless could obtain emergency shelter for an indefinite period. The house was always crowded and helped to alleviate the burdens of those in bad situations. However, staff members noticed that many people would seemingly get off their feet and leave, only to return again in a few years. The face of homelessness began to change as well as many young (oftentimes abused) mothers sought shelter, while previously the majority of homeless were men with drug, social and/or mental problems.

Visitation House evolved into a program whereby young woman and their children could receive temporary shelter for a few months and then move into an apartment complex next door for two years. During that time they set reasonable goals to be educated (obtaining a GED, associates degree, or another form of training) and learn other financial, coping and life skills. There is a tutoring program for the women as well as well as for their children.

I was very impressed by the sanctuary that has been set up for homeless as well as the tangible results of the program. (Grown children whose mothers benefited from the program have shown up at the door of Visitation House with advanced degrees of their own.) It is one of the many different ways in which I've learned about people helping others. While I admire these workers, I have also had my eyes opened to all of the people in need. I hope to be someone who is consistent in addressing the neediest.


This concern is another way in which I felt like Emma. In the novel, she is complimented on her efforts to do good works, but she brushes it off saying that she needs to do such things now- while the desire is there -because in a few years she my not feel compelled to do anything. I worry that after my mission experience, I'll get boggled down in everyday life and forget about helping others.

Complicating my little head is that upon returning from Visitation House I read a few articles on Catholic social teaching (we'll have a lesson next week) and I learned that committing acts of charity are not enough to address the problems of those in need. It may be a band-aid, but one really must work to change the social structures that exist that keep people down. (For example donating $100 to the sick might help someone in the short-term but questioning why the sick don't have access/can't afford health care is more beneficial in the long run.)

Fostering long-term stability was a goal of Visitation House when they changed their program from a shelter to a program that enables long-term education. At first, hearing about the change bothered me a little because while the program as it exists now is wonderful ,an emergency shelter open for anyone at anytime is also amazing and vital. However, I can see how the shift was compatible with social teaching. (As part of their ministry, the sisters address those who need emergency help by providing information a multitude of resources at all hours.)

While it may be easy for me to make these next few years simply a break from the routine, I am hoping that they will be a stepping stone that forces me to change my lifestyle and way of thinking. Like an Austen heroine, concerns over finding love may have been a priority over the last few years, and I could use distract myself with acts of charity in Mission before embarking on my 'real life' again. However, I am living in a different time period than Austen and have the opportunity and obligation to take on weightier concerns than simply paying visits to those in need.