A church in the Seattle area has opened its parking lot for homeless car owners to park at night. The church rents portable toilets for them. A church member opens the doors of the church for two hours on weekday mornings and evenings so occupants can use the bathrooms and kitchen, useful for those who have school or jobs.

Some in Seattle have called for more parking places for the homeless. One of the reasons cited for the lack of spaces, at least in church parking lots, is that many congregations are shrinking in size, along with their budgets for staff, extra utilities, and services.

Religious institutions have provided help for the poor since the first churches in the Near East took up collections for needy brothers and sisters. Monasteries and nunneries provided refuge for the destitute and dying during the Middle Ages.

We are familiar with the caricature of the Victorian do-gooder, more interested in saving souls than in physical sustenance to the poor. Religious leaders, however, prodded secular society toward fairer treatment of the poor, not to mention the end of the slave trade.

Working through government for humane change is as important now as then. However, one result of that shrinking church membership mentioned above is that fewer Christians are around to take up the slack when secular institutions fail.