The return of Archbishop Weakland to the Milwaukee See comes at a critical moment for the future of Wisconsin's communities. His comments about the human needs of persons confronted with changed rules for welfare in our state remind us that such needed reform demands the deepest involvement of our spiritual leaders. With all its powers and prerogatives, its armies and treasuries, its legions of experts and managers, the state cannot even acknowledge, much less tend to, the real needs of the human person. To a believer, dignity may come from God, but to no one, faithful or faithless, can it come from the dispensation of a government agency. Yes, W-2, Wisconsin's welfare reform program, is incomplete.
All government programs directed toward the improvement of the human condition are incomplete.
In our community, there are grassroots organizations, many of them faith-based, that on a shoestring consistently achieve results that expertly designed, professionally managed, and abundantly funded government programs cannot even come close to matching. They have more than food to give the hungry. They have a message. That is not enough. W-2 is not enough.