MODERN METHODS OF CATHOLIC CHARITY.

New Zealand Tablet, 5 August 1920, Page 45

MODERN METHODS OF CATHOLIC CHARITY.

w , An / l 0116 ca be a charity worker, we are told. When the people are hungry, give them to eat, as Holy Scripture bids us. When they are thirsty, give them to drink * If their shoes are worn out, give them heels' \Vh T °L y ° b°wn, however run down at the aitnff hen . hey n f ed clothes, provide them with a cast-off suit, even though it does not fit in an y one at V Teas? 0 a for 1 foes not charity cover, if not the poor, at least a multitude of sins? What’s all this fuss when ft is all « "T ? y of trained Social Workers, rallib oflth t f, your nose, pUm and your as easy os Cid S fini t V traditional log? Simply do what yourit (writes 5 Eev. Colkley)! dM ' e ’ ”’ d n ° ab ° Ut St. Paul SO U f | A i (C °T e ?‘ S th 6 Bulletin of no? content S StE™ When rivteo- te ! ere gmng of material relief, wnen giving ten cents to a poor man is all fUof • quired, true, any one with aWarmheart and ft ™ can achieve the obiect oii V r d the dlTne quite so easv as fit, al ' ck f rlt y oases are not ff? along the road only once. But haT^T^ that way again shortly afterwards, and found P^aln

•the self-same ' individual ' along the ; roadside, wounded and hungry as before, his eminently practical and charitable mind would have . suggested to him* that while administering the -necessary material relief he ought to institute an investigation as to why his suffering neighbor was in .this sad condition a second time. Once was bad enough, but why the recurrence ? Did he stumble over a bad piece of road ? Then the County Highways Department of the vicinity was at fault, and the road should be repaired.' Was the accident due to defective lighting ? Then the Electric Light Department must be at fault. Was the case due to thieves that infested the neighborhood ? Then it was a matter for the instant action of the police department. Was the man sick with a chronic illness? Then it was a case for a visiting nurse or physician, to see whether the cause might be bad drainage, or other insanitary conditions at his home. Was he tubercular ? Then it was a case for a sanitorium. Was he out of work ? Then a job could be secured for him, and the man be put on a self-supporting basis. Was he being systematically robbed of his earnings by those for whom he worked? Then it was a case for legal aid. And so on through the whole gamut of effects, the trained social worker would leap at once back to the root causes of distress, relieving all the while the pressing immediate need of the moment, but not stopping there, not being content with the simple easing of the apparent necessities of the hour, but with a philosophic temper of mind that would delight even Cicero, and with a charity that would bring joy to the angels in Heaven, the trained worker would probe back to find the fundamental causes of the present miseiy, and once having discovered them, would remove them, even if in their removal a dozen different social agencies, public and private, had to be requisitioned. x

. Not all well-disposed people have the time, the' inclination, or the ability to bring to bear upon a given cause all these manifold agencies, and the skill to trace effects to their hidden causes. It is for this purpose that charity workers must be trained. . Take a course of training at a Catholic school of social work near your home.