The church is rightly concerned with issues of poverty, health, education, and social justice… . But, to quote a relevant old phrase, ‘Man does not live by bread alone.’ Even the poorest people–perhaps especially the poor–need beauty and the transcendent. Beauty is not a luxury. It is humanity’s natural response to the splendor and mystery of creation. To assume that some group doesn’t need beauty is to deny their humanity.

Dana Gioia, interviewed by Erika Koss in Image #73.