Proclaiming the truth

I've been glued to EWTN for the past two days, much to the displeasure of my children, as I followed the USCCB conference in Baltimore. If you followed the mainstream media's coverage you learned the Catholic Church still hates gays, children, married couple who use contraceptives, women and sexual abuse victims. If, however, you realize that most reporters are clueless regarding the teachings of the Church (I'm talking to YOU, NBC's Baltimore TV correspondent) you'd do well to check out Open Book and American Papist for thoughtful and intelligent coverage of the event.
Although the bishops could have been a little more direct regarding the distribution of communion to those engaged in public scandal, I was pleased to at least see them publicly addressing the matter of marital contraception, homosexuality and pro-abortion 'Catholic' politicians. In these cases, the Catholic Church is the only Christian denomination willing to stand up and proclaim against popular opinion, what is right and what is wrong. We, as lay Catholics, need to have the guts to take these teachings to the streets, and apply them to our daily lives.
Worker houses should accept those in need regardless of race, creed, religion, background gender or sexual preference; aka everyone. However, our purpose in offering true Catholic charity is to offer all the corporal AND spiritual works of mercy. This does not mean proselytizing the homeless. It means considering the heavenly ramifications of how we assist those on earth, for their soul's sake and ours. To paraphrase St. Francis, "Always proclaim the Gospel, and when necessary use words." Be knowledgeable of what the Church teaches so when necessary you can talk to people about NFP and Courage. Fear of hell should override your fear of offending someone. May you be so lucky to suffer persecution for proclaiming the truth. If you walk the walk and talk the talk, you may just help someone in this life and the next. What can be a greater gift of charity than leading someone on the path to eternal salvation?