2013 Annual Gathering: Workshop#12A - Weaving Catholic Identity Into The Life of An Agency

Weaving Catholic Identity into the Life of an Agency: Learning from International and Domestic Perspective
CCUSA Annual Gathering 2013 15th September

Klaus Baumann Caritas Science and Christian Social Work Faculty of Theology Internal Senior Research Fellow at Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS)
Starting prayer
1. Holy Spirit, come, confirm us In the truth that Christ makes known; We have faith and understanding
3. Holy Spirit, come, renew us, Come yourself to make us live: Holy through your loving presence,
Through your helping gifts alone.
Holy through the gifts you give.
2. Holy Spirit, come, console us, Come as Advocate to plead, Loving Spirit from the Father, Grant in Christ the help we need.
4. Holy Spirit, come, possess us, You the Love of Three in One, Holy Spirit of the Father, Holy Spirit of the Son.
15.09.2013
www.caritaswissenschaft.uni-freiburg.de
Identity issues of Catholic Charities
Context of polemics or of quality management (or
both)?
Who talks badly about others, is a murderer; he is
hypocritical and does not have the courage to see

his own faults. (Pope Francis, 13-09-2013). What is the question? Why is it important?
15.09.2013
Overview
1. A Systems Perspective of the Magisterium on Catholic Identity 2. Systemic Differentiations 3. Elements of Organisational Identity 4. Remembering the Mission of the Church and of Her Caritas Organisations
15.09.2013
1. A systems perspective on Caritas as organisational principle of Church identity

it became necessary to stress that the totally personal act of agape can never remain as something isolated, but must instead become also an essential act of the Church as community: meaning that it also requires an institutional form which is expressed in the communal working of the Church. (Benedict XVI, 23rd January 2006) Love is therefore the service that the Church carries out in order to attend
constantly to man's sufferings and his needs, including material needs. /

As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community. (DCE 19/ 20)
the difficult search for ways of putting this fundamental ecclesial

principle into practice (DCE 21, emphasis added) this is what our workshop is about!
15.09.2013 www.caritaswissenschaft.uni-freiburg.de 5
Caritas in systemic perspective as explained in Caritas in Veritate 2:

Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity
which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law
(cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends,
with family members or within small groups) but also of macrorelationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, "God is love" (Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope. (Emphases added)
15.09.2013 16.09.2013
It interacts with other organisational principles: Unity of martyria leitourgia diakonia (DCE 25a)
The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-
martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and

exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being. Consequence: intrinsic Catholic identity of organized caritas!
2. Systemic differentiations and applications
1.
System and environments
Catholic Charities organisation and her environments:

2. System, subsystems, supra-system Catholic Charities organisation as system
as subsystem
as suprasystem 3. 4. micro-level, meso-level, macro-level the focus is on patterns of behavior and interactions in relational systems and institutions (overt and hidden rules and expectable reactions)
15.09.2013
3. Elements of Organisational Identity
3.1 Analogous use of Eriksons definition of ego-
identity
3.2 Organisational identity
3.3 How can caritas become an interpretive and

operative function in the Church and Her organized
caritas?
15.09.2013
Erik H. Erikson: Identity and the Life-Cycle, NY: Norton 1980, 22.
The conscious feeling of having a personal identity is based on
two simultaneous observations: the immediate perception of

ones selfsameness and continuity in time; and the simultaneous perception that others recognize ones sameness
and continuity. []
Ego identity then, in its subjective aspect, is the awareness of the fact that there is a selfsameness and continuity to the egos
synthesizing methods and that these methods are effective in

safeguarding the sameness and continuity of ones meaning for others.
Are there analogous synthesizing methods of organisations?
15.09.2013
10
Organisational identity
is the result of the interplay of many participants.
consists of self-descriptions which direct the self-observations, with an

integrative and an operative function for the organisation Integrative in helping to interpret the realities Operative in premises and regulations for taking decisions Are self-descriptions really integrative and operative within and for the organisation? Self-descriptions can be split off, or unconnected with, the operative level and be used perferrably for the communication with the
environment: Corporate identity as part of marketing and impression

management (N. Luhmann).
Charitys unrecognized systemic/ organizational dimension (Civ 2. 4)
In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger it [caritas] is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving
direction to moral responsibility.

that is, it is denied an interpretive and operative function
it is excluded from public strategic plannings and

relevance (cf. Civ 4)
15.09.2013 16.09.2013 www.caritaswissenschaft.uni-freiburg.de 12
Caritas with interpretive and operative functions
In the interaction between system and environments (n.b.: not
only as corporate identity!)

Within and and between different system levels, within the system and its subsystems Which patterns of behavior and expectable reactions ought to be established and deployed in correspondence to caritasmission and vision? Crucial role of leadership Objectives which operationalize caritas: gratuitousness, mercy and communion; justice; human dignity from start to end of life; preferential option for the weak, poor, and suffering; wholistic care; solidarity and subsidiarity; sustainability;
Cf. Malcolm Baldrige Areas of Performance Excellence to align the organisation with its objectives of caritas? (cf. Catholic Identity Matrix [CIM] of Ascension Health)
1. Leadership
Operationalizations of caritas in the Churchs mission: 1. 2. 3. 4. Gratuitousness, mercy and communion Justice Human dignity from start to end of life Preferential option for the weak, poor, and
2.
3. 4.
Strategic Planning
Customer Focus Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management
suffering
5. 6. 7. 8. Wholistic care Solidarity and subsidiarity Sustainability
14
5. 6.
Workforce Focus Operations Focus
7.
15.09.2013
Results
4. Remembering the mission of the Church and of her caritas organisations

Since the Church is in Christ like a
sacrament or as a sign and instrument

both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race,
it desires now to unfold more fully to the

faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal
mission. (Lumen gentium 1, italics

added) Universal is this: her mission in the service of love (DCE 42) sacramentally (cf. LG 1) in the sign of the Cross.
Paul VI: Evangelii nuntiandi (1975)
Dynamics and program of (new?!) evangelization: (1) (2) (3) Witness of life which bears Witness of the word; both seek to obtain The assent of the heart (which remains Gods work) (4) Leading to enter the community of the faithful and to
(5)
Ones own participation in the mission for

the Kingdom of God
15.09.2013
16
Caritas and (new) evangelization (DCE 31c)
Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practised as a way of achieving other ends.
But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and
Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man. Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God. Those who practise charity in the Church's name will never seek to impose the Church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and that God's presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love.
Caritas and (new) evangelization (DCE 31c)
He knowsto return to the questions raised earlierthat disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike; it is an attempt to do without God. Consequently, the best defence of God and man consists precisely in love. It is the responsibility of the Church's charitable organizations to reinforce this awareness in their members, so that by their activity as well as their words, their silence, their examplethey may be credible witnesses to Christ. Cf. Intima ecclesiae natura (11.11.2012) Art. 7. - 1. The agencies referred to in Article 1 1 are required to select their personnel from among persons who share, or at least respect, the Catholic identity of these works.
15.09.2013 18

2013 Annual Gathering: Workshop#12A - Weaving Catholic Identity Into The Life of An Agency

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2013 Annual Gathering: Workshop#12A - Weaving Catholic Identity Into The Life of An Agency

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Weaving Catholic Identity into the Life of an Agency: Learning from International and Domestic Perspective

CCUSA Annual Gathering 2013 15th September

Through your helping gifts alone.

Holy through the gifts you give.

Identity issues of Catholic Charities

Context of polemics or of quality management (or

hypocritical and does not have the courage to see

1. A systems perspective on Caritas as organisational principle of Church identity

constantly to man's sufferings and his needs, including material needs. /

the difficult search for ways of putting this fundamental ecclesial

Caritas in systemic perspective as explained in Caritas in Veritate 2:

martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and

2. Systemic differentiations and applications

System and environments

Catholic Charities organisation and her environments:

3. Elements of Organisational Identity

3.1 Analogous use of Eriksons definition of ego-

3.3 How can caritas become an interpretive and

two simultaneous observations: the immediate perception of

synthesizing methods and that these methods are effective in

Are there analogous synthesizing methods of organisations?

is the result of the interplay of many participants.

consists of self-descriptions which direct the self-observations, with an

environment: Corporate identity as part of marketing and impression

Charitys unrecognized systemic/ organizational dimension (Civ 2. 4)

direction to moral responsibility.

it is excluded from public strategic plannings and

Caritas with interpretive and operative functions

In the interaction between system and environments (n.b.: not

only as corporate identity!)

Workforce Focus Operations Focus

4. Remembering the mission of the Church and of her caritas organisations

sacrament or as a sign and instrument

it desires now to unfold more fully to the

mission. (Lumen gentium 1, italics

Paul VI: Evangelii nuntiandi (1975)

Ones own participation in the mission for

Caritas and (new) evangelization (DCE 31c)

Caritas and (new) evangelization (DCE 31c)

You might also like