Aloha,
This Lent we’ve been talking about a lot of good work parishes have been doing for those less fortunate — like organizing the community to feed the hungry, growing food in local farms and community gardens, and supporting women coming out of prison.
These efforts have several things in common. They respond to Jesus’ words, “What you do to the least of these you do to me.” They answer Pope Francis’ challenge to be “a church of and with the poor.” And they also follow the Holy Spirit’s call to collaborate for the common good.
As we head into the final weeks of Lent (which coincidently are also the last weeks of the state legislative session) we’d like to show you one way the diocese is working with other groups to get something done about homelessness and affordable housing. Catholic Charities Hawaii and the Office for Social Ministry have joined other non-profit groups (Partners in Care, PHOCUSED, Hawaii Appleseed, the Institute for Human Services and HOPE Services Hawaii) to support an important law that could help a lot of people if the legislature passes it.
We are asking the people in Hawaii to give their legislators a little push. There is an online petition asking lawmakers to restore funding to the Rental Housing Trust Fund to 50 percent of the conveyance tax (the tax collected when real estate is sold). The Rental Housing Trust Fund needs this money to build affordable rental housing for people in Hawaii. Hawaii does not have enough places to rent at reasonable prices, which is one reason we have so many homeless families.
So you can help by signing the petition. Go to: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/support-affordable-housing. Put your name down. Consider this an end-of-Lent resolution.
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry