THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION

Abstract

Poverty is one of the pervasive and complex problems facing humanity especially in the third world countries. In the history of Nigeria, for instance, starting from colonial period, Nigeria has been a country beset with the problem of poverty. They are known as poor farmers, traders, artisans, technicians and who feed from hand to mouth and still they are blessed with intelligent people and rich natural resources like oil. Why is it that government has not done enough in the area of poverty alleviation? However, poverty and attempts to alleviate it is an issue that has continued to linger and generate interest of the government, non-governmental organizations and patriotic individuals. The Catholic Church inspite of its central mandate being spiritual evangelism has continued to participate in the fight against poverty to accomplish Jesus mission to minister to both the poor and the rich. The Catholic Church has got to address the affairs of the people as it is the last hope of the people especially in the moment of distress and pain. The Catholic Church due to their closeness to its poor members remains one of the back bones of poverty alleviation to the rural dwellers. The paper through phenomenological method critically examined the roles of the Catholic Church in poverty alleviation through youth empowerment, community banking, establishment of schools and hospitals etc.