text: Over the years Catholics, and sadly many Christians, have become advocates for pushing the government and taxpayers to fulfill the Church's mission.  If priests and other clergy were as interested in building their parishes and congregations spiritually, as they seem to be in collecting money from them and demanding the things from the government that good Christian communities could provide, then our nation would not be as spiritually barren as it is.  Seems to me that the sacred duty of the church was to build up the spirit and the soul, not rabble rousing. I recall the story of the widow's mite.  If each individual gave sacrificially from what they have, then we build communities one at a time. Jesus never taught us to demand governments to provide life's essentials.  So now the Church teaches "pass the buck" via political activism,  but only after they have passed the collection plate.  It's why some of had to learn there is a difference between Church and worshipping God. So sad.