“For you have the poor always with you” (Mt 26, 11). Starting from this postulate uttered by Christ, is Social work – as mission of the Church – separate from social support? How much and by which means do we help the people in need? Where is the boundary between real need and social idleness? Does poverty have pedagogic or spiritual significance? Is any help included in the Church’s Mission in Social Work?
Are there differences between Social work as Mission of the Church and secular Social work? Can we talk about a tendency of separation of Social Work in the Church? Social work, even in the Church, tends to be more and more industrialized. What has the Church got to win and lose through the forms of institutionalized support? What is the relation between Social Theology, defined as theological field of study and the Mission of the Church?
These are a few of the topics we suggest and which, we believe, need to be the subject of a thorough theological investigation. We would like the debates and studies present at this scientific event to constitute theological and spiritual landmarks for the Mission of the Church in Social Work.
