Pastoral Theology versus Social Work
Introduction Professionalization of social work, as well as its theory and practice, is contributed to by several disciplines. Alongside sociology, psychology, and law, theology can also be included. In relation to theology and its scientific contribution to social work, it is a major challenge to reflect on its contribution in a way that is not based only on folk religiosity, but on competent theological research.
In the literature, several designations of theology’s collaboration with social work can be found: “theology in social work,” “theology in the context of social work,” “theology and social work,” or “theology of social work.” The following thoughts try to name the basic impulses for theology in social work and the importance of theological treatment of social themes.
The fact that theological reflection in the theory and practice of social work in post-communist countries has played a relatively small role has various reasons. One is that university theology has little experience with reflection on social work, which remains a very young discipline. At best, this role is seen in several scattered university programs focused on mission and diaconia. Such a state exists despite the fact that the motivational models of social work undoubtedly have their roots in Christianity, and church institutions have remained major providers of social services to this day.
Social work can be understood in multiple ways: as education, reflecting responses to social problems; as a science that studies social phenomena using specific methods; as practice, that is, helping people in social problems.
Theoretical approaches and theories of theology in social work are possible against this background from various starting points and with specific perspectives. Both disciplines have so far been difficult to align: social workers do not need theology and theologians have a sufficiently broad scope without social work. Yet if theology seriously takes its “diaconal” dimension, it cannot avoid social themes. Likewise, social workers must be aware of the need for a holistic approach to the client, and within such a paradigm they cannot do without only “mono-professional” workers.
In practice, theology is linked with concrete people in their social context, which needs not only to be understood sufficiently but also to be adapted accordingly with appropriate pastoral help. The need for the overlap of social work and theology becomes particularly concrete in activities in church communities. These are among examples showing that individual help is not sufficient, and that the approach is influenced by social, economic, and regional cultural context.
Looking into church history, one phenomenon can be identified: the charitable service of church communities developed much earlier than its theological justification. Until the 19th century, the Church with its parishes played a decisive role in the social system in most of Europe. Parishes were social institutions to which, alongside care for families, the task was entrusted of supporting the poor and sick. They were at least a central organizational institution. It was precisely the priests and their volunteer collaborators who were responsible not only for securing resources for the poor and sick but also for distributing them. Only around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries did municipalities and public institutions take over this responsibility.
The theological significance of this kind of social activity by church communities did not correspond to its proper weight in theology. Social work began to be theologically evaluated as a core function of the Church only in the 20th century.
In theology we know three basic functions of the Church: proclamation of the Word, administration of the sacraments, and diakonia as a service of charitable love. “The biblical community calls the collection for the poor koinonia (Rom 15, 26) and concrete material help for the poor and their feeding diakonia (Acts 6, 1; Rom 15, 25; 2 Cor 8, 84). This charitable help can also be found in the context of worship, in liturgy. Service to the neighbor and service to God presuppose proclamation (that is, explanation, rational clarification, and substantive interpretation) of the healing reality experienced in the service of God and neighbor.”1
In this sense, diakonia is understood as a biblical justification of the Church’s social work, as perseverance in “agape” and “diakonia.” Only at the turn of the 19th century was the term “charity” introduced as a theological scholarly concept for the social work of the Catholic Church, whereas in Protestant churches the used term is “diakonia.”
With this theological formulation, inspired by impulses from Scripture and patristics, it is pointed out that charitable and helping work is a fundamental marker of the Church, an inseparable element of pastoral action, as the realization of church life. Charitable engagement is thus linked to the vitality of church communities. From a theological perspective, whether a church community has the right to be called “Christian” or “Catholic” is decisively determined by whether social engagement is carried out in it.
Charity can be understood as the realization of church existence through the community and the whole Church’s action in the area of spiritual care, as well as special and organized charitable activity. Charity, which performs the service of helping love, is therefore no longer just a private Christian duty, but a fundamental marker of the Church, an inseparable element of pastoral action.
A decree of the Second Vatican Council on the lay apostolate formulates this in the following way: “Yet just as the Holy Church in its beginnings joined the Eucharistic supper with meals of love (agape), thereby showing itself entirely united by a bond of love around Christ, in the same way at every time love has been its identifying sign. And although it rejoices in the undertakings of others, it holds charitable love as its obligation and inalienable right. The Church therefore has, in an extraordinary reverence, mercy toward the poor and sick, as well as charitable and self-help works for the relief of human distress of all kinds.”2
The organization of church charity that aims to be close to human misery clearly depends on the current state of society and poverty: “For theology and the practice of charity it follows that the Church is by its nature diaconal-charitable, which does not set for itself which direction it will take, but lets its path be determined by those to whom it is to be close. This applies especially so that people’s (and also creation’s) poverty is taken seriously and truthfully in all of its diverse forms and contexts.”3 Analysis of the structural interrelations of current need, as well as the resulting political interventions, are therefore closely linked to the task of charity. Forms of enacting this dimension are not fixed; rather, they change with changing social conditions. Which organizational forms charity assumes in a given country is therefore not just a matter of faith, but also of social and socio-political conditions. Charitable organizations corresponding to different social and political contexts have also found different forms of anchoring in church life. The fact that, for example, charity in Germany has formed into a vast network of professional social care with over half a million employees does not stem from exceptional strength of faith among German Catholics, but rather from the conditions of German social state development. The same applies in post-communist countries. If charitable federations want to be an authentic expression of the life of the Church, they must again test themselves and adapt to the social reality of the specific country and interpret the “signs of the times.”
Traditional fields of parish charity are found in care, conversation, spiritual accompaniment, and catechesis: pastoral care of the sick, visits, support of community. New fields of action are in overcoming emergency in disasters, teaching self-help, social work, and social policy (care for refugees, homeless shelters, self-help groups).
As important as charity through direct service is, so is politics as well. “The more mystical the person is, the more mystical the community, the more political it is. Whoever immerses himself in God cannot do anything else than to engage in his own way for the poor and oppressed. Therefore, when a Christian community boasts of God’s presence, it becomes visible precisely in the fact that God’s passion on behalf of the oppressed and the poor also spills over into the Christian community.”4
Politics is necessary whenever concrete deprivation is not an isolated fate of an individual but is related to social circumstances. That is almost always the case in modern specialized societies. For this reason, concrete help for an individual is most often insufficient to solve that person’s problem, not to mention the same danger faced by others. Here too there are traditional and new fields of action.
In traditional political fields of action this means politically relevant help in distant countries through collections or political care for church communities. New fields of action change this angle of approach. The activity is directed toward raising awareness through seminars and counseling, with the aim of identifying the victims of oppression and their inherent structures.
Dimensions of theologically justified social work
In historical perspective, help was originally a matter of family, household, kinship, and other informal communities. These were the first places for carrying out social services, such as care for elderly and sick people or support for the poor.
The development of professional social work is scientifically explained as a consequence of the overloading of these informal structures, of the failure of the protective function of the family in an increasingly complex society, although the informal sphere before and now still retains part of social services for itself. Alongside this informal sphere, modern society created a formal sphere for the provision of social services.
Charity’s innovative readiness and ability to offer rapid and non-bureaucratic help is a popular argument for the necessity of church social work in the state, but naturally also a challenge. If charity is to use its irreplaceable function in the state in the future, it must face the danger of organizational rigidity. It must “watch changes in need and accordingly adapt creatively and actively to forms of help.”5 Charity must remain “sufficiently flexible despite total institutionalization so it can intervene quickly and non-bureaucratically where other help fails or does not arrive. It must be ready for surprising situations, and it must preserve an understanding of rapid help in critical situations.”6 Functions of charitable organizations
As a church activity, charity, also as a socially active organization within the social network of state, market, and informal area, has several functions that can be defined based on the correlation of charitable activity toward these areas.
For service, a relation between two actors is characteristic: helper–person in need, caregiver–care recipient, counselor–help-seeker. At the core of this relationship stands exchange between actors. Lastingly, this reciprocal relation is stable if service corresponds to an adequate counter-service. In professionally performed social services, it is assumed that at least material costs must be covered. The biblical basis can be found in the parable of the Samaritan: the Samaritan gives money to the innkeeper so that he takes care of the wounded person. He promises that on his way back he will pay even more if this is not enough. As is depicted in this story, with the full range of social services such as disaster relief or social work with homeless people, it is assumed that no material counter-service can be expected from immediate recipients that would cover the financial costs of that service. Therefore, longer-term financial coverage of service must be ensured by establishing framework conditions independent of recipients’ sources. In systems of social services, in addition to private donations and sponsors, the state enters the “game.”
In Europe a somewhat similar system emerges for social service. Providers of social services are: the state, organizations of professional social care, and profit-oriented business entities. Management of this market will increasingly shift from the state to consumers and their organizations. Social services are compared with regard to their costs, quality, and efficiency, as well as their profile, and in this sense charity can also be seen as an organization with features of an “economic enterprise.”
Another characteristic is advocacy. Charity accepts, within its possibilities, all people who have fallen through the network of state social security. The poor people who at least for a specific moment have no chance of public social support should be helped from funds it obtains from municipalities, grants, donations, and its own resources. In many cases this is temporary assistance. Through counseling and intervention, people in need should then, insofar as possible, be integrated into the state support system.
Its task is to be the advocate of people on the margins of society. From its own experience gained with poor people, it can politically engage in removing weak points in society. With its targeted impact at local, national, and regional levels, it enables humanitarian aid and the realization of development projects.
Advocacy is always in danger that lobbying for its own institutional interests comes to the forefront. Here, however, the task is to understand advocacy as criticism of insufficient and impoverished political framework conditions, while also as a self-critical principle that always presses for reform of one’s own production of social services. When the principle of advocacy is taken seriously, one cannot be satisfied that “the enterprise is running.” To be an advocate means to first and foremost have in focus the people entrusted to charity and to look critically at one’s own social institutions from their situation. Therefore advocacy is an ethically grounded and inconvenient principle, and it requires conscious attention, support, and care.
As a third function one can designate solidarity. Individuals are not understood only as subjective wholes, but identify with a group and are emotionally connected to each other. This emotional connection turns the group into a community, which brings two key elements: the expectation of mutual help in times of need, and secondly readiness to provide help. Help that motivates people need not be only altruistic, but may be understood as a contribution to a common goal and associated with the expectation that support will be returned if needed. In that case legitimacy is subordinate to the current community and its goals; help is given with awareness that through it important and legitimate interests of group members will be defended or promoted.
Conclusion
At the macro level of perspectives on social work, one can speak of the contribution of Catholic social teaching. It provides support in identifying the value basis of social work and also a tool for critical reflection on social policy and the culture of the organization that provides social services.
The points of connection between social work and theology can be formulated in several areas where space opens for communication of theological knowledge:
- Interdisciplinarity of social work
- The view of person and society
- Value-based grasp of the client’s life situation
- Spirituality, hope, and meaning
In the discourse presented, knowledge about Christian value premises, forms of motivation, and various methods of help are important. Theology in social work follows a social work discipline that makes room for various philosophical views and discusses them. It primarily concerns the articulation and reflection on the world of sufferers and those who help. In this context it is necessary to avoid ignoring professional boundaries between spiritual and social provision of help, or elevating one of these two scientific disciplines over the other.
Author: Mgr. Jozef Žuffa, PhD. List of used literature
BAUER, G.: Sozialstaat und Recht der Kirche. Viedeň: Lang, 1996 Dokumenty druhého vatikánskeho koncilu.: O laickom apoštoláte. Bratislava: SSV, 2008, čl. 8. METTE, N.: Theologie der Caritas, In: Lehner, M.: Grundkurs Caritas. Linz: Landesverlag, 1993 POMPEY, H., Solidarität und Helfen in interreligiöser Perspektive entdecken lernen, in: Adam, G., Hanisch, H., Schmidt H., Zitt, R. (Hrsg), Unterwegs zu einer Kultur des Helfens Handbuch des diakonisch-sozialen Lernens, Stuttgart 2006 WIDL, M.: Kleine Pastoraltheologie – Realistische Seelsorge, Viedeň: Verlag Styria, 1997 ZULEHNER, PAUL M.: Verbuntung. Schvabenverlag: Ostfildern, 2011
1 POMPEY, H., Solidarität und Helfen in interreligiöser Perspektive entdecken lernen, in: Adam, G., Hanisch, H., Schmidt H., Zitt, R. (Hrsg), Unterwegs zu einer Kultur des Helfens Handbuch des diakonisch-sozialen Lernens, Stuttgart 2006, s. 119. 2 Dokumenty druhého vatikánskeho koncilu.: O laickom apoštoláte. Bratislava: SSV, 2008, čl. 8. 3 METTE, N.: Theologie der Caritas, In: Lehner, M.: Grundkurs Caritas. Linz: Landesverlag, 1993, s. 134. 4 ZULEHNER, PAUL M.: Verbuntung. Schvabenverlag: Ostfildern, 2011, s. 117. 5 BAUER, G.: Sozialstaat und Recht der Kirche. Viedeň: Lang, 1996, s. 48. 6 BAUER, G.: Sozialstaat und Recht der Kirche, Viede