Social Work and Faith-based Organizations by Beth R. Crisp

Author:Beth R. Crisp [Crisp, Beth R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Social Work, Volunteer Work, Religion, Christian Living, Social Issues
ISBN: 9781317743057
Google: w9h1AwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-04-29T04:59:07+00:00

Appointment processes

Individual social workers putting themselves forward or allowing their name to be put forward for a position is only one side of the employment equation. What is equally important is consideration as to how faith-based organizations appoint and induct new staff into the workplace.

Staff selection

Some understandings of faith-based organizations assume that all staff will be persons of the faith (Thyer 2006). For example, Crossreach, the welfare agency of the Church of Scotland, has gained approval to make it an occupational requirement that all staff working directly with service users be Christians (Crossreach 2013b). One rationale for such a stance is an underlying belief that workers with a strong faith are more attuned to the needs of service users than are non-believers (Cnaan and Boddie 2006). In such organizations, religious beliefs are not just a requirement for appointment but also for promotion, and staff may be expected to participate in religious activities within the organization (Lake 2013). While there are undoubtedly many faith-based organizations which insist on employing persons of faith providing exemplary services, if professional competence is considered to be less important in staff selection than religious faith, this may lead to ‘a culture defined more by parochialism than clinical excellence’ (Lake 2013: 173).

In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, the former Pope Benedict XVI indicated what he regards as the standards of staff employed in Catholic welfare agencies:

Individuals who care for those in need must first be professionally competent: they should be properly trained in what to do and how to do it, and committed to continuing care. Yet, while professional competence is a primary, fundamental requirement, it is not of itself sufficient. We are dealing with human beings, and human beings always need something more than technically proper care. They need humanity. They need heartfelt concern. Those who work for the Church’s charitable organizations must be distinguished by the fact that they do not merely meet the needs of the moment, but they dedicate themselves to others with heartfelt concern, enabling them to experience the richness of their humanity. Consequently, in addition to their necessary professional training, these charity workers need a ‘formation of the heart’: they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others.

(Benedict XVI 2006: section 31a)

This ideal of staff who are both professionally competent and whose religious beliefs are consistent with the organization is however something which many faith-based welfare agencies struggle to realize. Many agencies which may historically have insisted upon staff being of their religion no longer have this requirement and staff selection processes may have ‘developed in such a way that the professional integrity of the people was probably paramount rather than their … beliefs’. As a former manager of a large Australian faith-based organization observed, ‘in the end … there’s not so many social workers out there, and there’s even less who may be professing Christians. That’s a generalised statement. But yeah, I think it causes them some issues, yeah.

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