April 23, 2000

Reaching out to those on the fringe

During Lent many Christians reflected on Jesus' ministry to those on the fringes of society. A Chicago priest and volunteers from St. Sabina's Parish on the city's rough South Side are doing more than reflect. They are living out the Gospels in a most unusual way: They are buying prostitutes' and other street hustlers' time in order to share the Gospel with them.

"If it's $20 or $40 for a half-hour, it's well spent as far as we're concerned," says the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the pastor at St. Sabina's.

The effort began only two weeks ago, but the results so far are remarkable. The church has helped one prostitute relocate away from her pimp so that she could begin a recovery program. Another said she prostituted herself to buy food for her children; the church gave her food.

In its first week, the program logged 37 "concrete interventions," in which time prostitutes and other hustlers, mainly small time drug dealers, listened to the parishioners' appeals to discover or renew their faith and to seek help. Of those, 10 showed up for Mass the following Sunday, three others entered shelters, two agreed to enter drug rehabilitation and one even initiated steps to return to school.

These lost souls have been given hope, as well as tangible assistance in making the first difficult steps away from the street life.

One might think such a radical program would upset the powers-that-be within the Catholic Church. To the contrary, the Rev. Pfleger has the full backing of Chicago Cardinal Francis George. Parishes that have the resources "are encouraged to do things like this," says a spokesman for the cardinal.

What makes this effort stand out, however, is not merely the act of buying prostitutes' time. It is the fact that ordinary people are possessed of the moral courage to lovingly tell the street people that what they are doing is self-destructive, when the fashion of the day is to leave well enough alone lest one be deemed "judgmental."

One of the lessons the Son of Man taught us, however, is that we have a moral obligation to offer assistance to those who society regards as disposable or expendable. Let's pray that St. Sabina's mission succeeds.