Speeches

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Changing Employment Relations in Changing Communities
Catholic Commission for Employment Relations
2008 Social Welfare Employment Relations Biennial Conference
Friday 14 March 2008 in Parramatta, NSW

"The Mission and Purpose of Catholic Social Services in Australia Today: a Bishop's Perspective."
By Most Rev Kevin Manning, Bishop of Parramatta

My dear colleagues and friends,

Although it is the second day of your conference, I welcome you to Parramatta, and express my pleasure in being with you this morning. The topic I have been given is: "The Mission and Purpose of Catholic Social Services in Australia Today: a Bishop's Perspective."

You will see from the handout that my presentation is divided into four sections:

By way of a short preamble, let me comment on the tag at the end of the title of the presentation, "a bishop's perspective". What I propose to you this morning are some of my personal reflections on the topic based on Scripture, along with some Church teaching, which is far more extensive than what can be covered in this amount of time.

Of course, bishops must take a close interest in the provision and operation of Catholic Social Services in their dioceses. So close and personal in fact that, in the 6th Century, a Council of the Church forbade bishops to have dogs lest the poor be discouraged from knocking at the bishop's house to seek help!

Section 1
Fortunately, I grew up in a poor rural community, with parents who instilled in me a keen sense of justice and a fair go for everyone, along with a clear appreciation of the dignity of all people regardless of wealth or class, and where practical help for those less fortunate was readily demonstrated.

I have been privileged to work in a variety of settings and on national committees, which have dealt with justice from a number of perspectives.

Central to Social Services as well, is a sense of justice - an expectation that all people have a right to their dignity, to have their basic needs met, to be safe, housed, adequately cared for, and loved.

Like all Catholic services, the primary mission of Catholic Social Services is to spread the Gospel message of hope, to be the face of Christ to those in need, through personal contact, example, influence, advocacy, and projects and activities of the social service organizations. Church represents Christ!

Its primary purpose is to continue the work of Christ in acknowledging the dignity of every human person, calling them to be fully alive, and reaching out in particular to those who are poor, underprivileged or marginalised in society, as well as those who have become overburdened by life's challenges.

The opening sentence of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, in 1965 reinforced this message:

Families, and the individuals and relationships that constitute them, are the core of society and the Church. This fact has been articulated by numerous Church teachings.

However, despite strong emotional ties and good will, living together and maintaining appropriate connections, along with managing transitional points in life are often difficult for many people, so difficult they can become "stuck" and eventually quite dysfunctional, as I am sure you are well aware.

If we are to give continuity to the mission of Christ: "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly," (John 10:10) then it is imperative that we provide quality professional services that enable people to recognise and live out their potential in life in a true spirit of hope.

All of us want life to the full. Not all have the same chance to do this. Some have been, or are still, held back by various circumstances. But, it is the role of Catholic Social Services to be people of hope, who can lead all to this possibility.

Some may offer the argument that there are many skilled clinicians, group workers, social educators, mediators etc., in other services in society, so why do what others are already doing?

However, it is in the 'why' and the 'how' of what we do that the answer to this lies.

Section 2
What does Scripture and Church teaching say to practitioners in Catholic Social Services?

The prophet Micah spells out clearly and simply the dispositions required of us: "to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with our God."

Jesus, in the New Testament, echoes the same message. He came to a harsh society, culturally divided between rich and poor, well and sick … not unlike our own really … offered a countercultural way of living, called people to, and modeled, a way of life that was radically different to the status quo.

Revolutionary?
He sets aside the eye-for-an-eye regime, calling people instead to "love one another as I have loved you", to "love your neighbour as you love yourself", "as long as you did it to one of these, you did it to me."

In place of violence, division and devaluing of people, He was promoting a culture of peace, connectedness and the dignity and worth of human beings made in God's image.

He promoted a beatitude culture and modelled for us the qualities required in Catholic Social Services personnel. The Gospels depict Jesus carrying out a solid healing ministry, being for all those He encountered a sign of hope.

It wasn't just the words of healing that seemed to make the difference. It was the power of the encounter, where He looked and loved, accepted the whole person, whatever their current state, was totally present to them, and somehow conveyed the expectation that change was needed and possible, and that a choice and effort on their part following this encounter could lead to its accomplishment.

He restored their dignity and enabled them to move forward. Emulating this behaviour is the challenge for Catholic Social Service practitioners, where you become the face and presence of Christ for all whom you encounter, regardless of their condition.

Jesus related to the blind and the lame, the possessed and prostitutes, the tax collectors and sinners, as individuals loved by God. Nowhere in His way of relating do we find even a hint of blame, of moralising, of condemnation or of judgement. As Spe Salvi states:

The gift of a new life! Is that not our hope for all the clients and practitioners of Catholic Social Services?

A life change
In the language of modern communication, we say that the Good News is not only informative - telling us something we did not know before - but performative - producing a life-change in us: "It is a message which shapes our life in a new way." (SS 10).

Have we the courage, and the personal resources, to grasp its promise and change our lives? How, asks Pope Benedict, is our Christian faith for us today a life-changing and life-sustaining hope? (SS 10).

Primacy of love
There is no doubt that our society has made many advances: in whatever field you name - science, technology, medicine, new ways of thinking and knowing - great advances have been made, but one fact eludes many people: we are saved by love (SS 26); not by the fastest broadband or by the leanest, smallest laptop, but by the love of God, given to us in Jesus, e.g. Jean Vanier.

We can experience great and different loves on earth - the love of parents for their children, the mutual love of spouses, the love of deep friendships. While these loves are limited because of the frailty of our human nature, and are affected by death, they reflect and give us a glimpse of a greater love. We humans need the certain love described by St Paul:

The only thing that is truly indestructible is love: everything is held together by the indestructible power of love (SS 35).

Many of your Social Services clients have little experiential knowledge of this on a human or spiritual level. It is your challenge to enable them to experience a glimpse of it in some way.

Role of CSS: with the person in solitude as Christ is with us

Our English word "isolation" comes from the Latin for solitude which is "solatio"; and so the English "con-solation" means "being with the one who is in solitude": the solitude of homelessness, of unemployment, of mental illness, of disability, of relationship breakdown, of substance addiction; of infirmity; of chronic illness; of old age.

Our life "in Christ", who is the visible expression of God's love, means that the role of Catholic Social Services is to be with "the person in solitude" as Christ is with us.

Each element of the list I have just recited is a dimension of the solitude of desperation, and the most desperate solitude is the solitude of feeling oneself unloved.

Therefore, a primary task of Catholic Social Services is to help clients recover, or become aware of, their sense of person, a person loved by God: a man or woman who matters so much that Jesus was willing to die for them; a woman who no longer feels that she is a lost cause; a man who becomes convinced that there is always a way back.

This is the mission, and was the ministry and example of Christ.

Love was the way of Jesus in his encounters with all the people of his time. The love which, without fanfare, heals, forgives and enables the other person to know himself as healed, forgiven and beloved of God.

Contemporary challenge
This is the question I put to you, as individuals, as members of various agencies: is your energy directed to "being with the person in solitude as Christ is with us" and to helping clients recover their sense of person, a person loved by God?

Many agencies can easily accommodate the notion of journeying with and assisting clients to recover their sense of person, but Catholic agencies need to have a different dimension, the dimension of love: the love of God made visible in Christ.

I read the 2006-07 Annual Report of Catholic Social Services Australia, with great interest, and admiration for the work you do, and for what has been accomplished. What was disappointing to me was the absence from the report of the name of Christ!

Yes, I know that it was implicit in the many references to the Social Teaching of the Church, but working in institutions sometimes pushes the very core of the service to the back burner, which is all very well until the flame goes out!

So I urge you to keep the person of Christ aflame on the front burner, or hotplate because, to the other, you are the person of Christ, the presence of God, called to serve others and to wash their feet.

Section 3
The question before us now is: What does Deus Caritas Est say to us about the relationship between Church and State in the matter of Social Services?

In the 2007 McCosker Oration, my brother Bishop, Pat Power, raised the matter of the effect on Catholic Social Services of the demands of compliance with government; and that brings me to the question of tensions in Church-State relations in a democracy. Let us for a moment turn the spotlight on history in order to establish a context for this tension.

No Golden Age
The most profound change in society has been brought about by the pace of secularisation. Now, I am not one of those who adopt a "Jeremiah" attitude to secularisation, always bleating about how terrible secularisation is.

Let us first examine the concept. In a work entitled The Secularistion of the European Mind, the respected Church historian, Owen Chadwick, offered a working definition of secularisation:

"The relation in which society stands to the Christian elements of its past and the continuing Christian elements of the present."¹

This definition favours the notion of secularism as a product of change, and helps us disabuse ourselves of the idea of a Golden Age in the past, an age of perfect harmony between the Church and State, and the corollary that, inexorably, we have been on the downhill slope ever since.

The late Middle Ages suggests itself as a period which could be called a Golden Age in this context. A period, Chadwick says, when " bishops were prime ministers (!), religion the only source of physics or astronomy or monarchy, kings disposable by popes, all art inspired by Gospel narratives, and theology the queen of sciences."² Even if we could, would we want to go back to that kind of society? I don't know about you, but I don't want to be another John Howard.

The issue today is: how can Church and State work together for the good of those who need the kind of service which Catholic Social Services provides?

Is the paradigm of continuity and change a completely satisfactory one in which to negotiate this partnership? Is there a line in the sand which we would not cross, even if it meant withdrawing from certain services? What would be the nature of that line: philosophical, ethical, doctrinal, operational?

I turn to Deus Caritas Est, specifically to the second part, which I do not see quoted very frequently, testimony perhaps to the critical re-thinking it requires of us in relation to our partnerships with the State.

Fundamental fallacy
First of all, I would like to scotch a fundamental fallacy, repeated so often that it has assumed the status of dogma, and this is that the Church acts in welfare or social services where the State does not, or cannot, act. To put it the other way round: if the State is sufficiently engaged in social service, then the Church does not need to be.

Deus Caritas Est states unequivocally that the "Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility of proclaiming the word of God, celebrating the sacraments, and exercising the ministry of charity." (DC 25a) Charity, the works of love, is part of the nature of the Church, of her essence.

It follows then that no matter how munificent the State may be, or how effective its delivery of service, the Church cannot opt out of works of love because she cannot deny her own nature.

Therefore, the Church must always be involved in works of love. We do things because the love of God calls us to, not because Governments aren't doing an adequate job.

State's responsibility to order society justly
In addressing the mistaken notion of charity as spiritually enriching the rich but actually demeaning the poor, Pope Benedict distinguishes between justice and charity (DC 26).

But it is important to note that he is speaking of justice in the context of the State's responsibilities, i.e., the ordering of a just society. This would encompass ordering the economy so that it takes into account the needs of all; setting up a judicial system which ensures equality before the law for all, and so on. This is the business of the State. As a political task, it is not the Church's immediate responsibility (DC 28a).

For Pope Benedict, Christian charity is more than condescension towards the poor or buying off our consciences by giving. Our love should be transformative, engaging respectfully with people rather than patronising them. Justice is love's barest minimum, our love should go the extra mile.

I think it is good to acknowledge that knowing when and to whom social services and their workers should speak in explicitly Christian terms is a huge challenge for practical discernment.

Our services should serve anyone in need regardless of their beliefs and so we need to avoid pressuring vulnerable people even subtly.

Many people who work in Church agencies are not Christians, but they are attracted by the values, attitudes and ways of doing things of these agencies.

We can't expect them to preach the Gospel, but our encounter with them may help them to see the source of our values, attitudes and ways of going about things. It is a delicate matter.

Church's role
Of course, the Church has a role in the creation of a just society. Along with others, she has a responsibility to call the State to account when its systems or legislation are unjust, but it is a role which requires constant discernment and adjustment.

On the one hand, "the Church cannot, and must not, replace the State" and, on the other "she cannot, and must not, remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice" (DC 28a).

She plays her part through what the Pope calls faith purifying reason, in effect, by offering a critique of the State's ordering of society, a critique based on Catholic Social Teaching.

We do not impose this critique on anyone, rather is it offered in complete freedom, and in respect of the freedom of others.

Works of love always needed
The works of love are always needed. "There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love" (DC28b), and here we tie in with the distinct contribution of Catholic Social Services: the idea that any society could be so justly ordered that it would render works of love superfluous rests on a purely materialist concept of the human person, the idea that "man can live by bread alone".

Catholic Social Services has the responsibility of responding to the needs of the whole person: spiritual and material.

To sum up:

• Deus Caritas Est teaches a clear line of demarcation when it comes to responsibility for the ordering of a just society. It is the role of the State;
• The Church contributes through the function of faith purifying reason;
• The Church will always be involved in the works of love because it is in her nature to be so involved.

Essential elements of the Church's works of love
Let us look now at the essential elements of the Church's works of love.

Firstly, the services are concrete and spiritual. They respond to immediate needs of the clients and to specific situations but, declares the Encyclical, "human beings always need something more than technically proper care. They need humanity."

Therefore, the workers in Catholic Social Services Australia's agencies need a "formation of the heart". They, themselves, need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ so that their hearts may open in love to others. (31a)

The Church's works of love must be independent of parties and ideologies, that is to say, they must not be influenced by them nor directed towards achieving their ends.

Our works of love must not even suggest proselytism, for love is free. We do not suggest, or ask, that clients adopt Christianity as a pre-condition of receiving services offered by us.

On the other hand, we do not need to exclude God and incarnate love, Jesus. Well-trained workers in our agencies will know when it is a time to speak openly and directly about God, and when it is a time to let love speak.

Deus Caritas Est teaches that it is the responsibility of Catholic agencies "to reinforce this awareness in their members, so that by their activity - as well as their words, their silence, their example - they may be credible witnesses to Christ." (DC 31c)

The Church's works of love are not to be just another form of social service, but to be Catholic Social Service.

Section 4
Now comes crunch time! If the Church's works of love are not to be just another form of social service but to be Catholic Social Service, what impact does this have on Catholic Social Services Australia, and its member agencies? I identify three aspects: service delivery and accessibility, advocacy, and formation;

Need for services
There is no lack of patronage of the services we offer. The 2006 Australian Community Sector Survey conducted by the Australian Council of Social Service, of which you are a member, presents three very clear findings:

1. Client demand was at the forefront of issues confronting agencies;
2. Client needs are increasingly complex; and
3. The importance of community services to low-income and disadvantaged groups, was confirmed.

Your most recent annual report makes it clear that you are acutely aware of these findings and of the tensions inherent in being partner and deliverer of services in partnership with government.

At your parliamentary breakfast with politicians, you asserted that you were "partners, and not agents of government in the provision of various government services." (Report, 21) I believe that this is a vital distinction, and one on which we have to continue to insist.

Service delivery and tension
But, I have to ask, is there something questionable about insisting on partnership status when we are tendering for government business? Do these dual roles constitute a tension based on principle, or is it a matter of pragmatism, of teasing out the tension tender by tender, and contract by contract?

How can the Government's aim of maximum outcome for the dollar be reconciled with the priorities of Catholic Social Services - the human person beloved of God?

Are our priorities in danger of being determined, or submerged, by the Government's shift to tendering, where it is the purchaser of services, and the clients are the Government's client, not Catholic Social Services' clients?

It is difficult to "act justly" in a climate where it can be quite pragmatic to take in the client who takes less time and skill, rather the more-complicated client.

It is challenging "to love tenderly" and give people the amount of time, effort and skill they need to experience hope and to have a chance of "life to the full" when a government contract has a limited amount of time per client and is looking for a concrete, judged outcome.

It is almost organisational suicide "to walk humbly with your God", acknowledging quietly that you have done a good job in a competitive arena where blowing your trumpet and selling yourself is mandatory to have a chance of winning a tender.

I also raise the question of accessibility of these services. The poor, disadvantaged and marginalised, as well as needy families, are distributed across Australia.

How well can we advocate for equal access to funding for services and choice for clients when the Government seems to show a preference for dealing with less number and large agencies whose experience is predominantly in metropolitan areas.

Advocacy
In his McCosker Oration of 2006, Professor John Warhurst noted that Church-State partnerships have been entered into only after considerable soul-searching and that "the Church has had to balance the roles of advocate of social justice and deliverer of government services".

Is there a notion here of biting the hand that feeds us, or having been fed? Are we then muzzled? What level of independence is necessary to maintain an advocacy role, which is respected? How will governments entertain tenders from those whose advocacy is implicitly, or explicitly, critical of government? How can the Church preserve her function of faith purifying reason?

I believe that, in the past, the Church has effectively negotiated this tension concerning advocacy, but we cannot be complacent about it, and we must be alert to the challenges it presents, and always discerning in our response.

Formation
I have treated service delivery and accessibility, and advocacy, and that leaves formation. The key question here is formation for what?

I have no doubt that agency employees are suitably qualified, offer a professional service, and attend to professional development.

If you are to be with those in solitude as Christ the Healer is with us, if you are to assist them in seeing themselves as persons loved by God, if you are to be alert to the moment when speaking of God is appropriate, then a specific formation for this is needed.

One of the challenges for many Catholic Social Services Australia agencies is that so many of the workers are not Christian. Our formation programs need to take into account the presence of people of many faiths or none.

That people seek to work for our agencies (there are lots of other agencies good workers could choose instead) presents an opportunity to evangelise these people who are not Christians. It has to be done respectfully, gradually, and carefully.

The first step in evangelisation is the witness of life. What do we do, not only in our interactions with clients, but within the organisation itself? Do we provide good modeling of the faith?

We also need to be more explicit, and here there is a responsibility on leaders in particular. They should regularly make explicit the connections between Catholic faith and the philosophy and organisational ethos of the agency.

Good leaders will know their people and be able to do this in a way that presents but does not impose Christian beliefs on others.

For this formation, I am not thinking of clinical one-off seminars or nine-day retreats, but of something much simpler which, for all its simplicity, we tend to avoid. Here I quote the words of a French archbishop:

"when we meet, we speak of our programs, of our agendas, of our projects - that is inevitable - but when do we speak among ourselves of our faith?

"If we are capable of talking among ourselves of what gives us life, to say what it is that makes us get up in the morning, then we will be able to walk with those whose paths cross ours."

I suggest that we must cultivate the regular sharing of faith among ourselves in order to voice the hope that is in us; that we may know who we are - women and men beloved of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that we may encounter each client as a man or women beloved of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Finally, if I may be indulged with one personal plea: I ask you to consider seriously the provision of services to rural Australia, which is being starved at all levels of service.

Thank you for your attention.

¹ Chadwick, The Secularisation of the European Mind, p. 264.

² Chadwick, Secularisation, p. 3.