Character help?

[invaderv93]

So I've been working on the first book in a neo-noir trilogy this year, and I think one of my side characters needs some fine-tuning.
QUICKIE BIO (I can get more into the details of the character/overall story later if need be):
Joseph Irons is an extremely talented Minneapolis med student in his early twenties. Both his parents were about nine kinds of loaded (where they got their money from is never explained; Joseph pointedly ignores the question, implying some shadiness, and other character's explanations range from "started slavery" to "invented cough syrup"), and when they died in his childhood he was left a sizable inheritance. A devout Christian, but pampered and pompous, he started a private pseudo-clinic for the homeless, intending to quickly cure them of their addictions (which he thought was the only reason they wound up homeless in the first place) and reintegrate them into polite society. When he realized his patients, their problems, and his society were more complicated than he thought, his faith started to change and mature. He has since started giving free, question-free care to anyone who needs it - not, he insists, out of charity, but out of penance. He's generally well liked in the city, but still has a prominent naive streak and some leftover self-importance that others frequently call him out for. His optimism can be a little grating at times, but he's experienced enough to back it up and helps my main character address/get over a lot of the less-realistic aspects of her own (much more cynical) opinions and fears.
He's not especially important plot-wise in this book (though he becomes very important in the next), but he's a good counterpoint to/channel for my protagonist to work out more of her internal struggles. I just worry that he's leaning on Gary Stu territory and think he could use some more development in general. However, while the plot isn't centered on faith and/or lack thereof, it's a prominent internal subplot for my main, so I'd like to have an example of a good person who's very influenced by their faith.
Basically, how do I make this character appealing, believable, and developmentally influential, and how do I avoid making him preachy, perfect, and insufferable?
Help a poor girl out?

[emmatheveritas]

Hey,buddy!
Okay, so it's been you who's been giving me a BUNCH of character help, but maybe now it's my turn.
I don't quite think your character is brushing the boundaries of Gary Stu territory. I actually found him quite appealing!
I'm no critic, believe me. You've seen my stuff. But have you seen that movie "Courageous?" It's still popular, I think. It's about a father who is a policeman who must learn to grow in his faith and trust in God when tradgedy befalls his family.
If you've seen it,(I highly reccommend it if you haven't ) you may want to incorporate some of those themes into your character. Maybe something will happen to him, like getting into a near-death car crash and seeing how much God loves him and has plans for him. Okay, you could always do something else, too.
But I think your character is fine and doesn't really seem very Gary Stu.
Best of luck to you!
Veritas out!

[mechana2015]

I think a good way to make the character more interesting would be through their friends/associates and the (most likely) prominent issues that would arise from being high society working with the homeless. Questions like... what do other people in high society think of this? I would suppose that an individual like this has been in private schools, and made friends and associates from the same caliber of dough-re-mi as him, the kind of people he's known for ages but who might try to grind down on his charity work a little, especially if he's workaholic-ey or self-rightous about the whole thing. Friends that want to just go spend money and have fun, associates that suggest he 'just hire a staff' and get along with doing something 'more important' or people who percieve his 'charity' as something self serving (and possibly him trying to deal with the fact that it may be self serving in some fashion). If he's rolling in money his problems are going to be of this sort of variety more likely than not, as something like a car crash, unless he actually is the cause of some non financial injury is just a dent in his inestimable wallet, a blip in an ocean of cash, and since he's a doctor even injuring someone else is something that is more likely to gary stu him than less likely, since he can probably just buy the greatest medical care known if he hurts someone, even if he's just trying to make up for an error and be caring it'll just come across as solving the problems with magic money.

TLDR: First world problems grinding on person trying to solve third world-ish problems.

The other thing could be showing how 'no questions asked' can grind on him. Its something saintly to ask no questions, but unless the guy is a saint of the highest caliber, it's going to get to him some to see the same overdoses, the same injuries, the same lack of self care, self abuse, and other abuse. It should get to him to some degree that he's helped someone with bruises that he's sure are from an abusive family member, but he can't track them down or do anything else. A guy keeps coming in starving and high, and he doesn't know where the guy lives to maybe try to send help. Find a problem in this sphere that money can't solve that can chip away at him a little, something to keep him up at night, make him visit the clinic to check for them again to see if they're there and need help, something that makes some of the grinding away at him from his associates in the high-rollers club about hiring a staff to run the place and staying away maybe not sound like a bad idea.

[invaderv93]

Thanks for the help, both of you : ) He certainly does struggle with his "no questions asked" policy - he's unintentionally wound up as sort of the on-call coverup man for a couple people he KNOWS are gang leaders, and he's inwardly very torn between the "forgive and help all people" and "speak out against that which is wrong" aspects of Christian doctrine. His relationship with others from his background is something I do need to flesh out and which definitely will be in the second book. However, as he's not the main character, I still have to figure out a way to introduce bits and pieces of that into the story without it being a huge distraction from the plot.