Frederic Ozanam instructed his followers that their work for those in need must be “ of love, of kindness,” giving of their time, their talents and themselves.
“The poor person is a unique person of God's fashioning with an inalienable right to respect.
You must not be content with tiding the poor over the poverty crisis: You must study their condition and the injustices which brought about such poverty, with the aim of a long term improvement”. - Blessed Frederic Ozanam 1813 - 1853
What Frederic Ozanam said
"The question which is agitating the world today is a social one. It is a struggle between those who have nothing and those who have too much. It is a violent clash of opulence and poverty which is shaking the ground under our feet. Our duty as Christians is to throw ourselves between these two camps in order to accomplish by love what justice alone cannot do."
"It is truth which will always rise up to judge political systems." - Frederic Ozanam writing in 1838
"Justice is a fixed star which human societies try to follow from their uncertain orbits. It can be seen from different points of view, but justice itself remains unchanged."
"There is exploitation when the Master considers the Worker not as an associate, as a helper, but as an instrument from which he must draw the greatest service at the lowest possible cost." - Frederic Ozanam giving a lecture on 'Commercial Law' in 1840.
"Those who know the way to the home of their poorer brother, whose feet have swept the dust from his staircase. never knock at his door without feelings of respect."