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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Charity and Charities (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22) |
 | | Fraternal charity done in the spirit of Christ effects an equality among all the members of the Christian family, for the material gift of the giver is balanced by the love and prayers of the receiver (2 Corinthians 8:13, 14; 9:11-12). |
 | | Assistance was afforded to the clergy, to widows and orphans, to the destitute, the aged, the sick, the persecuted, and imprisoned, and the stranger; and decent burial was given to the neglected dead. |
 | | The results of the Church's preaching and practice of charity during this period were that widows, orphans, abandoned children, friendless young women, prisoners, the sick, the helpless poor, and the victims of the barbarian invasions, received all the care and assistance which their condition and the available resources permitted. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/03592a.htm (12532 words) |
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