The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-05-04
CATHOLIC CHARITABLE WORK
FATHER RYAN OF ST. PAUL SEM
MARY cRITIcIsEs THE CoNcLU-
SIoNS OF AN AUTHOR IN RE-
GARD TO THE CHARITABLE
RELIEF WORK OF THE CHURCH.

HEIIEF WOHN Of TIE S7OnSr1'
In reviewing a recent volume en-
titled Charity and Social Life: A
short study of Religious and Social
Thought in Relation to Charitable
Methods and Institutions" the Rev.
John A. Ryan, D. D., of st. Paul Sem
mary, in the current issue of the
American Journal of Sociology, takes
exception to one of the conclusions
of the author, G. S. Loeb, who con-
tends that the greater part of the
charitable relief provided by the Chris
tian Church down to the end of the
Middle Ages was misdirected and soei-
ally harmful, owing to wrong motives
and bad methods.
with regard to this historical con-
clusion," says Father Ryan, "the author
seems to arrive at it mainly from his
consideration of the supernatural mo-
tive that was so prominently placed
before Christians. He seems to think
that the average Christian regarded
the act of giving as morally good, in
dependently of it's effect upon the re-
u
spite of some success Both the prem
ise and the conclusion involve ques-
tions of fact, yet the author adduces
no adequate basis of fact, nor cites any
authority either contemporary with
or subsequent to the times that he is
discussing. Now, the facts of the
situation are: first, no Christian au-
hot Ia 1E
reward promised by Christ to those
who assisted the neighbor Matt. 25:
34-4O) could be obtained through aims
giving which was harmful to the per-
son receiving the gift, or which took
no thought of results; second, from
the beginning the Christian teachers
and pastors insisted upon the duty of
investigation in charitable giving, as
may be seen in the Didache, which
was written at the end of the first
century; in the writings of Basil,
Ambrose, Jerome, Chrysostom; and in
the DEGREES of numerous church coun-
ellis. In the words of Professor Ash
ley, "it is not difficult to adduce a
long catena of passages from the Fa-
ellis, which declare in the most expll-
cit fashion the duty of investigation.
1t must be allowed that so far
as the theory of almsgiving is con-
cerned, the medieval church was free
from the fault that has been attrihut-
ed to it, (English Economic History,
II. 315, 316). In the third place, the
proportion of unwise giving varied
widely during the different periods OF
pre-Reformation history. For the first
six centuries of the Christian era the
relief of the poor was probably attend
ed by fewer abuses and misuses than
during any subsequent period down to
the present. In the seventh and the
eighth centuries there was a consider
able decline, which was checked by
the reorganization of charitable activ-
ity under Charlemagne; at the end
of the ninth century there began an
other period of disorganization which
continued for about two hundred
years; from the twelfth to the fif-
teenth century, inclusive, the poor
were as a rule very well cared for,
of indiscriminate giving, and unwise
charity generally. Neither in this
nor in any preceding period, however,
were the shortcomings in this respect
so great as to deserve the sweeping
condemnation which Mr.. Loeb passes
upon the entire sixteen centuries:
endless failure in spite of some sue
cess Possibly. he has, like so many
others, been misled by the unsupport.
ed concentrations of Emminghaus.
Had he been more fully acquainted
with the works of Ratzinger, Ehrle,
Lallemand, and Uhlhorn, he would
have found it impossible to write this
amazing sentence.
eff he had satisfied with the state
ment that the duty of investigating
cases that seemed to call for relief
was less strongly emphasized before
the Reformation than in these days
of organized charity, he would have
been on safe and easily established
ground Almost all the preachers OF
and writer's on charity of the former
period were more intent upon induc
ing men to give generously than upon
warning them against unwise giving
On the whole their policy was, com
paratively speaking, justified by the
results. During the medieval period
the amount, of unrelieved want was
relatively to the resources and stand
ards of living then prevailing, less
than it has been at any time since
Ample proof of this assertion may be
found in the pages of any frst-class
economic historian. Nor is there any
thing in Mr.. Loch's volume to show
that the proportionally greater amount