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You’ve probably seen the videos. It seems like they’re all over the internet. A woman decided to test churches around the U.S. to see if they’re really caring for the needy as Christ intended.
She called dozens of churches and other houses of worship, saying she couldn’t afford to buy formula for her hungry baby and asked them to help — while playing a fake recording of a crying baby in the background.
The big story? Many churches said no, or said she would have to go through a long process to get help. Meanwhile, much was made out of the fact that she got an immediate “yes” from a Muslim mosque. She also got several offers from Catholic churches.
Many media outlets are framing this as a “gotcha” moment for religion, claiming Christians don’t help others as they should.
But is that the truth? As usual, there’s more to the story.
A gotcha moment?
While the media narrative centered on the megachurches that turned her down, few of the stories mentioned that several Catholic churches immediately offered help:
Religion Unplugged referred to a Catholic parish as a "Hispanic church":
A woman at Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church, a Hispanic church in Columbia, South Carolina, said Monroe could come to their food pantry the next day. But then Monroe reminded her that her baby hadn’t eaten all day.
“Just come,” the woman said. “If they don’t have baby food, I’ll give you $10 from my pocket.”
Catholic churches who didn’t immediately offer cash responded to her with a list of resources, such as food banks, other churches with food pantries, and Catholic Charities. She responded by claiming she’d already tried those places — which wasn’t true.
This brings up the real question of whether her test was a fair one.
Imagine that you are a church secretary. A stranger calls on the phone, claiming she needs cash now, allegedly for her hungry baby.
Something about it doesn’t quite sit right.
WIC programs, which are operational throughout the U.S., make infant formula readily available. It wouldn’t be practical for churches to stock infant formula, which expires and which most people don’t go to a church to find. And church secretaries report getting frequent scam calls asking for money.
If you are a church secretary, would you perhaps wonder if this was some kind of scam? Why hadn’t she called WIC or a food pantry instead of a random church office?
The strangeness of her “test” really brings into question if this was any kind of fair way to judge a religious organization. Is it prudent to jump to conclusions about a whole religion based on a fictitious social media stunt?
Catholics have a reputation
Assuming her test was a fair one, it’s not surprising that the media covering her stunt made little mention of the Catholic churches who offered help. That just doesn’t fit the anti-Christian narrative, does it?
But some viewers were quick to point out that you can always count on Catholics to help. Commenters on a Reddit thread about her “social experiment” pointed out the following:
If you go to her page, you'll see the Catholic Churches offered food, too.
Another said:
I would be very shocked if a Catholic church turned her away. Every diocese has a fund for temporary emergency cash assistance. They can even help with utility bills and rent. But it is for emergencies. If you keep going back, they usually try to connect you with social services.
And another shared:
I am an ex-Catholic (really just ex-organized religion), but I was raised Catholic and went to a Catholic high school run by the Jesuits, and if there's anything I took from that education was that they were always ALWAYS willing to help those struggling with food insecurity or those that just needed help. I can't speak for all Catholic parishes, but the ones I grew up in were always willing to do something - donating food, donating money, making and delivering meals, helping out at soup kitchens, helping out in the community, even for those NOT Catholic, they were there, especially the parishioners on their own time.
I'm not trying to sell Catholicism to anyone, but I'm saying that my personal experience was positive in terms of the Acts of Service and their outreach to those in need within the community.
It’s moving to see these comments affirming that Catholics are known for service and generosity, and it’s great that several Catholic churches were quick to offer aid.
But what can be learned from this whole bizarre news saga? What’s the takeaway for churches and religious people?
The message from this viral stunt
Calling a church office certainly would be an odd way for someone to go about getting food assistance, but there’s a lesson to be learned from it.
What is the best way to respond if someone reaches out for help, whether to our churches or to us individually as people of faith?
It might be a good opportunity for churches to put a plan in place, if they don't already have one.
How do we handle individuals reaching out for specific needs? What protocols or guidelines should we follow in such situations? There is certainly some prudent discernment needed, and churches should have guardrails in place before distributing cash to unknown callers, so this viral story might be a good time to clarify best practices.
At the heart of this “test,” we see that many people doubt whether Christians are willing to “walk the walk.” In a spirit of humility, we might take this as a reminder to renew our commitment to our Christian vocations. We might be grateful for this call to practice service and generosity wherever we find an opportunity.
And finally, we want to gratefully point out the many, many Catholics who lay down their lives in service to others. Look around your own town: Who runs the hospitals and food pantries, the crisis pregnancy centers and charitable endeavours?
Through organizations like Catholic Worker, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and many others, countless Catholics dedicate themselves to serving the needy.
In fact, the Catholic Church is the largest charitable organization in the world, running 5,500 hospitals, 18,000 clinics, 16,000 homes for the elderly and those with special needs — with 65% of these located in underdeveloped and developing countries.
While we give serious side-eye to this whole “social experiment,” and while the media plays out this story as a “gotcha” for Christians, the real story is that Catholics are quietly serving others — feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick — every day of the year.
The beautiful reality is that countless people spend their lives being Christ’s hands and feet on earth. And that’s so much more important than anything you could find in a viral TikTok video.
