Aid to the Church in Need: What does it mean to be a Catholic charity? Part One

What does it mean to be a Catholic charity? Part One

Posted by Information Report on 1/11/2002, 10:03 am
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Part One: TEXT OF THE SPEECH OF ARCHBISHOP CORDES, PRESIDENT OF COR UNUM, TO THE ACN
DIRECTORS CONFERENCE Sept 2002
His Excelleny Archbishop P.J. Cordes
President of "Cor unum"
What does it mean to be a Catholic charity?
The writings of Pope John Paul II have for many years now contained an expression that is on first reading surprising. It does not belong to traditional Christian vocabulary but stems rather from an ideologically opposed camp. The Pope speaks of the "structures of sin" ; elsewhere one finds the expression "social sin" or "situations of sin". Clearly, these expressions do not intend to absolve the individual of personal responsibility for injustices or to encourage him to ascribe everything that is wrong entirely to the prevailing social context. Indeed, the pastoral letters of the Pope do not hesitate to refer the above terms back to man's selfishness, greed for profit and hunger for power. No, rather, the papal reference to faulty structures is intended to make clear that human sin can create social conditions which from the outset can frustrate the striving for individual liberty and well-being. These conditions are often more mighty than the power of individuals and groups to resist them. But on the other hand, since the salvific mission of the Church implies the victory over sin and all its destructive consequences, then the above new expressions become, eo ipso, a justification for the Church and an obligation upon her to involve herself in social and political action. The community of the faithful cannot simply barricade itself behind a defensive wagon circle, like the American settlers in Indian country. Precisely because they are called to active charity, they must open themselves up to the helplessness of their contemporaries in need. And indeed these contemporaries not infrequently have within them the dim awareness that the Church and her members have the duty to make God's love visible in this world.
How often I am accosted by beggars and gypsies, as I walk through Rome! They recognise me as a priest. Of course, they may well be driven by greed or habit to seek something from me. Yet it is significant that it is precisely from a representative of the Church that they expect to receive a coin. They clearly retain the conviction within them that the Church ought to fight against human misery because she proclaims God's love. Hence, for me, those who are often burdensome none the less convey an important message.
And so, when the Pope speaks of the structures of sin, it is no passing borrowing from communist ideology. Already before this, the Pastoral Constitution of Vatican II was not afraid to concede that the Church can learn from the world and its interpreters. She is "not unaware how much she has profited from the history and the development of mankind" (GS 44). Whether Karl Marx was the influence behind the expression "structures of sin", or whether it was perhaps inspired by Bert Brecht's talk of "circumstances" (Verhältnissen) - the mere fact of a doubtful origin in no way diminishes the truth it contains.
Still less will the student of Holy Scripture allow himself to be disturbed by such terminology. The apostle Paul himself teaches us that sin works on mankind like an embracing power (Hamartia), beguiling the heart of man and exploiting its evil influence upon this heart in order to work its disastrous effects upon our everyday life, our history and even upon nature and creation (cf. Romans 5:12 ff; 8:18 ff). Hence, in her struggle on behalf of mankind and his dignity, the Church has an interest in the "structures" in which we live. And just as these may tend to his downfall, so she for her part must spur him on to his salvation. And so Christians must establish initiatives that combat this destructive sense of hopelessness - creating new orderings that at the same time improve the environment of mankind. After all, Christianity is imbued with the principle of (the) Incarnation. It retains the necessity of rooting Christ in the place and time of his birth and earthly existence. Therefore, throughout history, God's call to salvation also respects the actual life situation of each individual person, remaining oriented to it and taking it as a starting-point. Thus, the initial evangelising work of the early Church was coloured by the structures of Judaism, of the "synagogue" - and later influenced by the world of "Magna Graecia". The mendicant orders of St Francis and St Dominic were sparked by the movement of poverty of the Middle Ages; they sought to provide a social and pastoral response. Right down to our own day the discerning observer can see that God's action for the salvation of mankind is intermingled with social and political events. For example, the movement towards the European Community and towards a new sense of unity on this continent, in peace and freedom, sprang from a Christian inspiration. At any rate, Robert Schumann who, along with the other Catholics, Alcide de Gasperi and Conrad Adenauer, was the father of this idea, believed himself to be led by the hand of God.
The political response and its dangers
There are many good reasons for saying that the Church and her charitable institutions must enter the public arena and that they cannot simply hide away in the sacristy. Of course, they will venture with prudence into this public forum. Christians know of the many admonitions in the Scriptures which enjoin caution when entering the market place - that Jesus' Kingdom is not of this world (cf. Jn 18:36), that the disciples have been forewarned of the "world’s hatred" (Jn 15:18); that they have been admonished not to be “conformed to this world” (Rom 12:2). Even observers far from the Church warn us - for example the sociologist Max Weber. In his "Political Writings" he states:
"The early Christians knew quite clearly that the world is ruled by demons and that anyone engaging in politics - or in other words becoming involved with power and compulsion as a means, is making a pact with diabolic powers" .
Political activity can take over those who engage in it. It leads those involved to make absolute the goals they have set themselves and to sacrifice everything to them. Thus the political objective turns into a sort of Moloch and makes itself into the ultimate criterion for the evaluation of the facts and for the final definitive decision. Even those who seek political alliances simply for the sake of improving their effectiveness are treading on thin ice. Hence even pastoral planning which borrows from the political sphere is left with an "exposed flank" - especially today when Church activity is so readily directed according to political notions. Indeed, for many people the Church appears more than anything as a sector of this society, and even for many of her own members her way of speaking and acting is indistinguishable from that of other groups in society.
At the present time the politicisation of Church charities has perhaps to some extent been checked, with the critical scrutiny of the concept of "Liberation theology". And yet for many initiatives in society, and for not a few Church groups, it still retains its attraction.

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