The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-03-09
Catholic Church and
-. Welfare Work
TRADITION OF CHURCH POINTS
TO CONTINUED AND UNIVERSAL
ACTIVITY IN SOCIAL UPLIFT-
oRGANl FED CHARITY HAS
REACHED INTO EVERY FIELD
d OF HUMAN. NEED. .rr 42z

Great, indeed, has been the 1nflu-
ence of the Church in all ages on
social welfare work, but more than
that she has always taken the lead
and spurred her faithful on to assist
her in this great task. She has con-
sidered social welfare work part of
her. normal work. The primary aim
of the Church is to sanctify and save
the souls of her children, notes the
Pittsburgh Observer. This she prom
Uses and this she performs. But she
not only promises this-nay, she does
far more than she promises. Man
may truly say of her: "AH good
things come to me together with her.
Active participation in social and
charitable work is a real, though sec
ondary, and, as it were, conditional
duty Of the Church. Priests and lay
men, besides the duty of saving their
own souls and aiding others to do
the same, have the subsidiary duty,
of relieving poverty and remedying
social injustice. In fact, that is one
of the ways of their saving souls.
We arrive at this conclusion in the
first place from the study of the world
and the example of Christ our Lord.
To feed the hungry and perform" the
other corporal works of mercy is
+ definitely declared by Him to be a
condition of our entering Heaven.
No more weighty sanction could
possibly be given for this duty of
helping the poor, and it has been re-
f1ected in the writings of Christian
teachers in. every age from the ex-
hortation of St. Paul and St. James
down to the Encyclical on ''The Con-
dition of the Working Classes" which
states the attitude of Church in the
following words: "Neither must it be
supposed that the solicitude Of the
Church. is so preoccupied with. the
spiritual concern Of her children as
to neglect their temporal and earthly
interests. Her desire is that the poor
should rise above poverty and wretch
edness and better their condition in
life, and for this she makes strong
endeavor." -~~s..* .z.'''. ..s..-t
The duty of assisting our neighbor
for the love Of God is put before us
by the Fathers and by Popes and
Bishops of every age. Besides this,
God has annexed spiritual rewards to
| this form of good work. Stress is laid
on the still higher motive provided by
belief that the neighbor is the child
of God. Thus DR.. Ryan says: The
Church touches all the springs in
mans complex nature" Moreover, we
have the warrant of traditional prac-
tice for declaring that social and
charitable work is incumbent upon
Catholics. For the Church has not
been satisfied with recommending
such work. In every age she has
taken leading part in it. The
Church, moreover, intervenes directly
on behalf of the poor, by setting on
foot and maintaining many associa-
tons which she knows to be efficient
for the relief of poverty. Let us
call to mind the brotherly love of
the early Christians as we read in
the Acts of the Apostles: Neither
was there any one. needy among
Il61Q. 10 Iu6 OFU6E OI Tie DCdCOllS
was committed by the Apostles the
charge to feed the hungry and to
assist the poor and the needy. And
St. Paul, the great Apostle. Of the Gen
<iles, made long and tiresome jour-
neys to bring the aims of the Chris
tians to, the poor. Later on the
Church has founded institutions for
the support Of youths and maidens
fdestitute Of means and deprived of
their parents, and for the care of the.
aged and relief of the shipwrecked.
1t would be impossible to give here
ieven a bare outline of the charitable
and social work undertaken by the
Church. The diocesan clergy, the
fmonasteries, the religious commune
ties, the associations of pious laymen
and women have in various degrees
| helped build up a tradition which
ms without parallel in the history OF
| the world. DR.. J. A. Ryan sums up
this tradition thus: Surveying the
whole historical field of Catholic char,
ity, we are justified in saying that in
I q