To the editor:

As cold weather approaches, Steubenville faces some crucial decisions. Where will the homeless seek shelter and where will they find food? The federal government has cut funding for the city’s shelter and eliminated food benefits for the most vulnerable. This Republican administration has no plans to help the needy. Their focus seems to be on constructing that “one big, beautiful” ballroom at the White House. By the way… none of us knows how long it will take to build that thing, or whether the billionaires and millionaires who have promised to chip in on construction costs will actually follow through. So, we should not be surprised when we taxpayers get stuck footing the bill for yet another Donald Trump fiasco.

So, if the federal government is incapable of caring for those in need (because they are busy partying, parading and playing golf), who here in the Ohio Valley will pick up the slack and do what is right? What organization will do what is just? What organization will do what its principles and moral teachings presume?

Yes, I am asking where is the prominent university on the hill? That voice has remained conspicuously silent these past weeks. Franciscan University of Steubenville has the financial capacity to build hotels, skating rinks and restaurants.

Is there anything left for those who have been left behind — those who have missed their opportunity and cannot afford college, those who have no discretionary dollars to spend on skating or enjoying a restaurant meal?

Yes, the Catholic university in Steubenville ought to wholeheartedly step up to help resolve the homeless issue for two reasons: One, they have been highly regarded by the city over the years, and two, it is, quite simply, their responsibility. It is part of their mission. It is imprinted in their name–St. Francis was the poor man of Assisi.

On Oct. 4, in his first teaching at the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi in Rome, Pope Leo stated, “No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem. They are part of our ‘family.’ They are ‘one of us.'” He expressed concern that the inequalities in the world are due to an economic ideology designed to benefit some and disregard others. The pope then clarified that “fighting against the structural causes of poverty” is a necessary component of defending and protecting the most vulnerable. Since the Trump administration has no desire to help the poor (they are doing their best to eliminate those who have come to our country in the hopes of pursuing the American dream), Franciscan University of Steubenville must put its principles into practice and care for those who have been pushed to the edges of society, treated as less than important, labeled as nonessential and disparaged for being powerless.

There is no room for indoctrination, however. There must be no strings attached. Do not make becoming Catholic contingent to providing care. Show us what it truly means to “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Shirley J. Fisher-Ciancetta

Steubenville