text: Jesus said, "The poor you have always with you, but I will not always be with you. Let her alone . . . she has done a good thing." (Mk 14:7) 
        This was said by Jesus in reference to 'the woman with the alabaster jar' spending hundreds of dollars (in today's money) for a perfumed oil to pour on Jesus' head, so as to acknowledge him as king and lord.  Also, the oil was often poured on a body in preparation for burial, meaning that the anonymous woman anticipated Jesus's crucifixion and burial.
         Point being: Since when did Catholics have to be so obsessed with alleviating poverty? Is middle-class (or wealthy) lifestyle the actual 'rasion d'etre' of our existence? Monks and nuns even take a vow of poverty, so apparently they see some good in that lifestyle. Dorothy Day of Catholic Worker fame, also embraced a life of poverty, even while raising her daughter in a homeless shelter.  So why the constant obsession with alleviating poverty??