ABOUT THE CONFERENCE PROGRAMME SPEAKERS
Social Activity of Institutions of the Catholic Church, and Their Contribution to the Social Community
Presentation by Tomislav Glavnik, lic. can. iur.
While the time we are living in is not considered to be a time of crisis, it does not jeopardise the existence of the Church, but is rather an expression of various possibilities in which the Church as such feels called upon to credibly do its mission, which is to testify to God’s love, to celebrate His presence, to serve the poor, and to be home to all the peoples, i.e. to promote the unity of mankind. In the sense of the above, the activity of the Catholic Church is multilayered. We can divide it essentially into a) Martyria, testifying to and proclamation of the Gospel, with a readiness for suffering and persecution; b) Liturgia, the service, prayer of thanksgiving and intercessory prayer of meeting God while celebrating the Eucharist; c) Diakonia, serving people, support to one’s neighbours who are in need, but also an expression of mercy and closeness toward the poor from all around the world.
Diakonia or service among others is an activity that is systematically relevant for the society, and thus also for the State. Apart from creating social programmes and serving as a foundation for community volunteering, the Church and its institutions contribute to the education of students as well as offer training and skills that promote civic engagement. Apart from direct economic benefits, the Church also offers social benefits that have an economic value. A social benefit that the Church brings to local communities has been identified, including: provision of aid to the poor and vulnerable members of the community, provision of social services for children and youth without appropriate parental care; presence in the pre-school, primary school and secondary school education; improvement of family relations, reduction of violence against women, care for women and children victims of family violence, responsible fulfilment of obligations in the local community, and promotion of volunteering. While some from the humanist branches deem it irrational to participate in volunteering projects due to their low personal benefit, belonging to a church community necessarily includes the obligation/responsibility to “serve” others in the community, thus combating the issue of disinterest and alienation. The Church helps the community in order to furthermore fulfil some vitally important social projects that civil institutions or the State are unable to support financially, otherwise without assistance from the Church some programmes and projects would be unsustainable. On the other hand, it is obvious that there is a fundamental expectation on the part of the civil sector pertaining to what the Church should do or where it should have more presence in the society. In the social presence of the Church in the Croatian society, which is in principle and statistically declared as predominantly Christian, the State provides financial support to the Church in its social activity, aware of the fact that a purely political community would have to provide a large number of alternative services if the Church were to cease with or reduce its social, charitable or humanitarian activity.
Along with the great expectations from the Church, the Church is also required to be vigilant in its day-to-day activity. Diaconal efforts (service) are the key criterion for the social recognition of the Church as well as its special responsibility toward people. At the same time, it should be noted that the purpose of diaconal efforts is being questioned within the Church. In some cases, the social and religious (ritualistic/religious) areas of activity are intertwined.
In the midst of the crisis with regard to the current role of the Church in the society, there are voices who would place more focus on “matters of faith”, and not so much on diaconal efforts. That line of discourse indicates issues that should be taken seriously: in the area of social services, the Church is facing fierce competition, which forces it to act/work in different “market” conditions. The professionalisation connected with diaconal work and the development of highly specialised professions lead to an emphasis of the inherent logic of the social sector that does not highlight or even recognise the “service” that is inalienable from the Church and gospel service, which is, in turn, essentially altruistic and humane.
The Church believes and strives to continuously communicate that the necessary expertise and secular functionality cannot replace the past and current areas of activity of the Church in today’s specialised areas of the society. At the heart of its activity, the Church keeps man as an individual and a group as a permanent devotion to the Gospel mission of love for one’s neighbour, fulfilling its mission in a non-profit way, giving itself and its resources for the good of people. In other words, unlike the State and secular actors in the social sector, whose activity revolves around performance-based contracts, the Church has more radical expectations not to leave people in need on their own. Because of that very fact, in today’s society there are great social expectations of the Church, the Church community and all others who indirectly depend on the Church. All of the above contributes to the criterion of credibility for all other religious requirements as well as the character of the Church community itself.
A mature society and social community as a whole should certainly keep a high level of social engagement of the Church, while the Church is called upon to set out its social orientation. Finally, there could emerge new criteria that would show which social services are being offered, and which are necessary to change, reinforce or redevelop. It should also be noted that Church workers are enabled to place their efforts into the context of the fundamental biblical message as well as to reveal and take advantage of religious resources for the benefit of their own motivation for social action and professional social services. They are also enabled to transfer their immense knowledge and experience for the good of the society, community and the State, thus demonstrating how the Church tackles “the signs of the times”.
