Caritas et veritas, 2017 (vol. 7), issue 1

Editorial

Michal Opatrný

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):7  

Uchopení křesťanského poselství v sociální službě Diakonie ČCE

Štěpán Brodský

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):241-245  

O spiritualitě v sociální práci

Michal Opatrný

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):9-12  

Spirituality in Social Work with Respect to the Helping Person's Education and Skills

Tereza Cimrmannová

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):22-31 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.005  

The spiritual dimension significantly affects the quality of life, which is beyond dispute today. The concept of spiritually sensitive and spiritually oriented social work has been elaborated well in theory. However, under what conditions are these concepts workable in practice? How significant is the social worker's personal spirituality in communication with the client? The text also presents the limits and risks, due to which many social workers in religious and other organisations are not or cannot be experts in clients' spiritual needs. This does not negate the significance of spirituality in social work, albeit it need not be explicit. Yet there...

Spiritual Sensitivity in Caritas Services: Why and How to Work with the Spiritual Dimension of the Life Situation of Clients

Jakub Doležel

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):50-68 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.007  

In a society where traditional churches have lost their monopoly on defining the conditions of human spiritual life, Caritas facility workers, as well as workers in other church-operated helping organisations, can feel baffled as to how they are to fulfil the postulate of a holistic approach to the life situation of their clients and patients, not confound the concepts of spirituality and religion, and make use of their professional competences framework also with respect to the spiritual dimension of the life of the service recipients. This paper presents practical incentives to this end. First it legitimates the effort of Caritas workers to incorporate...

Martyria as One of the Christian Aspects of the Helping Worker

Jana Maryšková

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):80-91 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.009  

The paper deals with the topic of martyria as one of the Christian aspects of the helping worker. In the first part, the paper focuses on defining the term 'Christian helping worker' and answering the question of whether that label signifies a Christian worker or a worker acting in a Christian way. In the second part, the paper discusses the Christian helping worker's task to be God's witness - martyr - to other people. It shows three aspects of such witness: the helping worker as a martyr of God's kenosis, as a martyr of God's con-solatio, and finally as a martyr of God's transformative power in the human being.

The Caritas and Diaconia Organisations - Providers of Social Services or Secondary Church Structures?

Michal Opatrný

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):99-105 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.011  

The study deals with the relationship between church-operated helping organisations and the churches operating them. It starts from the general charitable task of Christians, which is at present being realised precisely by church-operated helping organisations accredited as providers of social services. The study shows how the churches' charitable task is impeded by such a practice. It identifies the different perception of the organisations and their work in the ecclesial and secular milieu as the cause of the situation. The secular setting does not understand the charitable organisations as a part of the church which realises its charitable task...

Caritas as the Third Sector of Society in Poland

Wiesław Przygoda

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):115-124 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.013  

In contemporary Poland, there are a number of institutions focusing on social work, which can be classified in the so-called civic sector. Among the church-operated organisations using the services of volunteers, the Roman Catholic Caritas plays a key part. The paper discusses its legal and organisational situation. First it describes the oppressive period of the second half of the 20th century, when social work in Poland was directly controlled by the communist government. It then captures the legal foundation for the functioning of church-operated institutions in the social security system in democratic Poland. The last topic is the codification...

Why Does a Social Worker Act in a Fanatic, Cynical, or Composed Manner? On the Relationship Between Spirituality and the Moral Attitude towards What Cannot Be Changed

Vojtěch Šimek

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):136-147 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.015  

The author begins by researching Czech relevant sources and contributes to the Czech expert discussion about spirituality and social work. His contribution is based on Christian philosophy and theology. The author analyses some basic relations between the selected central aspect of spirituality of the social worker and his moral attitude to what cannot be changed and what bothers him; the selected aspect is the search for the objective meaning of life. The author shows the relations with a selected typology - a fanatic, a cynic, a composed stoic, and a composed Christian - and offers to social workers and social work students an inspirational typological...

Diakonia in the Public Sphere - a Daughter of the Church, or its Sister? Church and Diakonia Between Separation and Approximation

Karel Šimr

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):154-160 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.017  

The paper attempts to localise the contemporary developed forms of organised diaconic activities with respect to church and society. Based on historical, sociological and theological analysis of Christian helping action with respect to its development in the modern period, it articulates the view that the theory of constitutive marks of the church, which conceives diakonia as one of the realising characteristics of the church, is not sufficient for reflecting institutionalised diakonia and charity in modern functionally differentiated society, and it is more appropriate to describe it as a connection of the systems of religion (Christianity) and social...

The Christian Profile of Caritas in Slovakia from the Point of View of Its Employees

Jozef Žuffa

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):167-172 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.019  

Serving the neighbour is an important pillar of the identification of ecclesial life and Christian identity. One of the platforms for realising it is the organisation of Caritas, active worldwide, which operates in Slovakia under the name Caritas Slovakia. The paper examines the way Caritas employees perceive its Christian profile through semi-structured interviews. The research aims to present the variability and contents of the Christian dimension of Caritas from the point of view of selected respondents. The results show the respondents' perceptions in the sphere of spiritual care for the clients and of a flexible offer of services according to...

The Morality of Care - Its Origin, Reception and Further Development from the Point of View of the Psychology of Morality

Alena Pikhartová

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):183-192 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.021  

Gilligan's research on women considering abortion was a turning point in the field of moral psychology and its methodology. Gilligan discovered a new aspect of morality by using a real-life moral dilemma. She was confronted with strong methodological criticism. Further research did not confirm the assumption of male and female morality. However, two coexisting moral orientations are generally acknowledged: an orientation towards justice and an orientation towards care. This has given rise to a relatively new philosophical current called the ethic of care. Its groundwork is the perspective of care focusing on people's needs, improving real relationships...

Canon Law and Spirituality

Stanislav Přibyl

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):205-217 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.023  

The paper aims to show the usefulness of canon law for the spiritual life of the faithful and refutes the deep-seated notion that law deadens or inhibits spirituality. First, it proceeds historically and gives examples of ecclesial discipline, which have proven to be of substantial help in experiencing spirituality, especially the consecrated way of life. It then points out the ritual richness of the Oriental churches as well as problems associated with the liturgy of the Christian West and cites legal means ensuring that liturgical practice is carried out to the spiritual benefit of the faithful. It then analyses in detail diverse forms of consecrated...

Selected Impulses of the Synods of Bishops on the Family (2014, 2015) and of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia (2016) for the Helping Professions

Jindřich Šrajer

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):229-240 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2017.025  

The paper reflects on some of the assertions of Pope Francis's post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia. It aims to specify the exhortation's impulses for the helping professions, pastoral care and social work. It implicitly addresses the question whether these impulses, deriving from the Christian worldview and assuming it in the interested persons, are of some relevance for secular social work, for which this worldview is neither a condition nor a general standard. For that reason the paper also offers a brief overview of the form and significance of the Christian ethical paradigm in the history of the Church.

Martin WEIS, Josef Hlouch: pastýř a homiletik

Jaroslav Hrdlička

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):246-247  

Stanislav SYNEK, Duše jako místo dění světa: Studie k pojetí (lidské) duše u Aristotela

Milan Nakonečný

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):248-249  

Peter VOLEK, Človek, svobodná vôľa a neurovedy

Milan Nakonečný

Caritas et veritas 2017, 7(1):250-251