Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Why Your Parish Needs Diapers, And Other Things

Why Your Parish Needs Diapers, And Other Things

Last updated on: May 18, 2021 at 7:58 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Why Your Parish Needs Diapers, And Other Things 2021-05-18T19:58:02-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It started with a photo of diapers.

My friend Father Schneider shared a photo of a stack of free diapers and wipes in the men’s room at the grocery store, with a sign that said “Here for life’s little emergencies, please help yourself.” He said he was glad to see things like this to help parents out. Another priest, Father Stinson, retweeted this with “we should put these in our parishes TBH,” and a lot of people jumped on to say it was a great idea. So do I.

Diapers are a necessity for families with little ones. They’re not the kind of thing you can put off til pay day or even for a few hours, usually. Babies need several diapers per day every single day, and they need to be the right size. And yes, I realize cloth diapers exist. I used them on Rosie when she was a baby because we got a huge stack as a baptism gift and we couldn’t often afford to buy disposable diapers. I liked my prefolds. They caused fewer rashes than disposable, and created less waste. I’d do it again if I had another baby. But cloth diapers need wipes too, and they need to be washed which requires detergent and paying the water bill. Diapers are a big expense no matter what you do. And they are not covered by poor people’s EBT benefits, which can only be spent on food. Every parish ought to have a stack of free diapers, or a little cupboard stocked with several sizes of free diapers and packages of wipes, in the public bathrooms. And if fellow parishioners see a family taking a big stack of diapers for the road, they should mind their own business instead of gossiping about it.

You know what else parishes should have? A washer and dryer. This was suggested by my friend Michael Bayer, also on Twitter. I hope it’s not news to anyone that appliances are expensive. Houses and apartments don’t necessarily come furnished. If you don’t have your own washer and dryer, you have to wash clothes (and diapers) in the sink and dry them any place you have room. Or, you have to drag all your laundry to a laundromat, which is expensive and hard to get to if you don’t have a car. It would be a huge help to struggling families if parishes and Catholic schools had a laundry room in a discreet place, where families could wash and dry a few loads to take home. They could fundraise or hold a second collection now and then to pay the water bill. And if better-off parishioners noticed a poor family using the free parish laundry, they could mind their own business.

Further, every parish also needs a grocery pantry. Yes, you can make this a great big expensive affair with shelves of supplies in a warehouse, if you can afford that. That’s something every community needs. But you can also do it the simple and cheap way and build a little free pantry. This is the exact same carpentry project as a little free library, only for food. Build a waterproof box with shelves and a hinged door, put it outdoors on your parish property, and stock it with shelf-stable food and toiletries: individual rolls of toilet paper, travel-size containers of soap and toothpaste. Sanitary napkins. One-dose packets of ibuprofen. Chef Boyardee. Cereal. Boxed milk. Tuna salad kits. Put a sign on the pantry saying “take what you need, leave what you can,” or words to that effect. Invite the whole parish to help stock the pantry with offerings whenever they can, and also have a designated person or team in charge of keeping it stocked during hard times. A great place to put it would be just outside the door to your 24-hour Adoration chapel, if you have one, because it’s a beautiful devotion to bring a gift for Christ in the beggar before going in to worship Christ in the tabernacle. People can drive or walk up to leave donations, and they can also grab what they need, discreetly, without the embarrassment of begging for help. And if some nosy person coming out of the adoration chapel recognizes the parishioner grabbing an armload of free groceries to get through the week, they can mind their own business.

Parishes should also have designated people who are kind of like Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion– only instead of driving Holy Communion to shut-ins, their job is to be available to drive people who don’t have cars to and from Mass on Sundays and weekdays. And after Mass, the Ministers of Transportation should ask “do you need to go to the store or the library or pick up a prescription before I drop you off?”

They should have a Giving Tree of anonymous requests for small gifts people need to get by, at all times, not only during Advent. Leave it bare during Lent and put eggs on it for Easter and beach balls during the summertime, but keep the giving going.

They should start a small Community Garden so people can grab a tomato or a basket of fresh lettuce on a bad month before pay day. Fresh fruit and vegetables are the hardest foods to keep in the house all through the month.

They should have a stack of sandwiches or other more substantial food at the weekly coffee and doughnut social, and not pay attention if some people show up for the social but not for Mass. Just in case anybody hasn’t had a meal at all that day.

They should have nice old ladies who love to sew, whose ministry it is to offer to make a First Holy Communion gown for any low-income families who have a girl that age but no money for a special occasion dress. And if some little girl receives First Communion in a cheap dress or in dress pants and a button-down, they should mind their own business.

Really, we should all mind our own business. And our business is to see Christ in our neighbor and care for their needs, however we can, without judgement.

Our parishes should be the hub for all of this activity– caring for whole people, soul and body, however we can, because every person’s body is Christ’s Body and every family is the Holy Family.

Image via Pixabay

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.
Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Previous Post

May 18, 2021

Getting Back to Sunday Mass in the Age of COVID

Next Post

May 19, 2021 Four Notes on the Works of Mercy, and an Update on my Book

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John James Paul Peter