What is the Church doing for the Romani?

I know, I know. But when I say this, I mean, "what is the Church doing to help people on the margins"? I am aware of the irony of me saying this, given that I'm quite critical of ethnic ministries (especially when the ethnicities have very little in common, like say, pretty much only the Spanish language, as is the case with Hispanic ministries), but, I think it's a legitimate question. So, for those that don't know, who are the Romani? Okay, so, the Romani (or Roma, or Rromani or Rom) are an ethnic group originating from India, they are also Europe's largest ethnic minority. If you hear the word "gypsy" in a movie, replace it with "Romani", because that's the people that are (usually) called gypsies. Many of them, especially in England (the Romanichal) are becoming Pentecostal. Romani, by and large, take the religion of their country (not to say that they don't have folk beliefs), so, generally, Turkish Roma are Muslim, Bulgarian Roma are Muslim or Eastern Orthodox, Roma in Eastern Ukaine are Eastern Orthodox (in Crimea, some are Muslim), Roma in Western Ukraine are Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roma (usually Sinti, which are Romani, but, for some reason, you'll often see the term "Roma and Sinti") in Germany are Catholic (Latin Catholic) or Lutheran, Hungarian Roma are Catholic (both Latin and Hungarian Greek Catholic), etc, etc. So, what is the Church doing? Why are countries with Catholic majorities indifferent to the suffering of Romani people? Why is it that Italian and Slovak politicians are openly hostile to Romani? "Oh, gypsies are criminals". Okay, so, if you can't get a job because you're Roma, what do you resort to? It's not like here in the United States where people steal for thrills. There's a big difference between stealing to feed your family, and stealing because you felt like it. Do note, I am NOT saying that the government has to solve this problem. A Roma commits a crime, a Roma should go to jail or be fined, just like anyone else. What I am saying, though, is that Church leaders need to be more involved in these communities, so that Romani don't get to that point to begin with. Stop being afraid of these people, they're not that different than you. I actually have a similar (but unrelated) group where I live, known as Irish Travellers, within a short distance of me. I actually go to church with them. There's a ton of stereotypes about them (none of which are true). They are also sometimes called "gypsies", due to a similar lifestyle. But see, the entire community gathers around the Church (both the building, and the ecclesiastical structure), and are well integrated into The Church. In fact, the priest that brought me into the Church (the late Fr. Clarke, who ministered to Travellers), mentioned that this community is no worse than any other. And he's right, everywhere has criminals, it's not unique to travellers. Not that you would know it by the news. There was a local news story about a car stealing ring in the town the Travellers live in, and the news made it sound like their ethnicity was the cause of it. Umm, no, they did it because they were criminals. Criminals come in all ethnicities. Most Travellers I know personally, are good Christians, good Catholic people. A little hard to understand sometimes (they talk really fast, and before someone tells me it's Shelta, no, it's English, they have southern American accents by this point, though, some also speak Irish), but not bad or wicked criminals. And there's this weird irony, where we call everything "racist" in the west these days (regardless of whether or not it actually is), yet, we don't seem to do anything about the discrimination against travelling people of all sorts. I guess what I'm getting at is this, at times, it seems like a lot of the Church, not only Church leaders, don't want to help these people. Now, I am SURE that some do, but when Romani are forced into situations where they have to steal, we're failing as a Church. And it's easy to lay the blame with Church leaders, no, I lay this blame with the laity as well. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will seperate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his on his right. 'Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty, and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. ' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. ' Then they also will answer, saying 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" ( Matthew 25:-31-46) Romani live on the margins of society. Are you feeding them? Are we visiting them? Are we clothing them? Are we welcoming them? Or are we going to be okay with the eternal fire, because we won't go to the margins?

Bible version used, ESV Catholic Edition with Deuterocanonical Books, Copyright 2017 by Crossway.