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New Perspectives in Charity

O'Grady, John

668 T H E C O M M O N W E A L October 3 o, i929 NEW PERSPECTIVES IN CHARITY By JOHN O'GRADY ATHOLIC social work has always been regarded as an essen- tial part of the pastoral...

...This immediately opened new avenues in Catholic social activity...
...This question has really settled itself in a practical way in most dioceses in the United States...
...It means that a large number of poor parishes must have assistance from some outside source in their charity work...
...The homes once owned by people in good circumstances are now occupied by families that are more of a liability than an asset to the Church...
...The most delightful of his shorter German translations is Rueckert's mosaic, Und Dann Nicht Mehr, at once tender, plaintive and musical...
...The other Mangan, the Irish dreamer was well acquainted with the Muse Euterpe...
...Mangan has written: "The Gorgon's head, the triple-faced hell dog, the handwriting on Belshazzar's palace walls, the *fire globe that burned below the feet of Pascal are all bagatelles beside the phantasmagoria which evermore haunt my brain and blast my eyes...
...The religious communities in charge of them have received very little assistance, in general, and have been compelled to operate them on a very small margin...
...Moreover, they were built up on the principle of rescuing the child from undesirable surroundings and since, if they did not accept the child there was a danger that he might be taken by some proselytizing agency, the policy of accepting children without very much preliminary questioning was developed...
...The Fair Hills of Eire, and Ellen Bawn have found better renderings than his...
...Catholic program...
...His first interpretation possessed little blending of words and rhythm to express the spirit...
...He broke into the weird and symphonic strains of the immortal song of Ireland, The Dark Rosaleen...
...He rewrote the poem three times...
...Catholic charity in regard to the child does not depend entirely on homes of this type...
...Obviously no person interested in such a refuge wants to see it filled with children who can be taken care of in their own homes...
...Mangan was drawn to Orientalism by his favorite Germans who delved into the thought of the East...
...They believed that these agencies should not be nonsectarian in name only, that their workers should help persons in need, no matter what their religion might be...
...It was also expected that the central organization would be an inspiration to parishes inclined to be indifferent to their social responsibilities...
...This is probably the most serious obstacle that we find in the development of parish social work in the United States...
...The volunteer organizations began to see more clearly that social work meant more than the giving of relief and the finding of employment...
...With the great shifting of population in American cities, however, parishes have found it increasingly difficult to care for their own poor...
...The various allusions to Rome and Spain refer to aid promised by their rulers...
...This was felt to be the only means of assuring the fullest Catholic participation in these movements...
...Until very re.cently the Catholic Church m the United States assumed that the serving of the poor and the needy could be cared for by the ordinary mechanism of the parish...
...They cannot be permitted to acquire their experience and technique at the expense of the weakest and most helpless members of the community...
...The work of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and the various organizations of Catholic women pointed the way for diocesan programs of Catholic charities in the United States...
...In time, those in charge came to see the need of specialized care for different types...
...Its great fundamental task of changing the attitudes of individuals and of families toward their life's responsibilities began to force itself more strongly on their attention...
...When Mangan was very young the thought and mysticism of the German poets and philosophers attracted him...
...Mangan's transformation of it was an arduous task...
...There was no reason why any group in the community should be deprived of their benefits ; it was the duty of all groups to see that public service was maintained according to the highest standards of efficiency...
...In 1915 not a single diocese in the United States had a scientific plan of Catholic charities...
...Love, either passionate or frivolous, is absent...
...It can then live in the assurance that its efforts and its labors have not been in vain...
...Moreover, there are very few on whom the pastor can call for any type of lay activity...
...They wanted to see the Church better prepared to meet the problems of poverty and &pendency in the new age...
...When the immigrant family was deprived of its chief bread-winner, there was no means of taking care of the children and at the same time of shielding their faith...
...His article forms a part of a volume in the Calvert Series, and will be published in the near future by the Macmillan Company.--The Editors...
...This resort to adoption as a properly managed solution has had during the past fifteen years very gratifying results...
...His chief passion was not the work of Goethe or Heine but rather that of Schiller, Rueckert, Freiligrath, Uhland and Burger...
...As Catholic leaders began to establish city-wide contact in social work, they immediately saw the inadvisability of having each parish develop its program of relationships with non-sectarian and public agencies...
...Many of these leaders recognized that public agencies had been set up and developed to take care of priests have shared their responsibility in this important work with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul...
...Particular institutions were also organized for the care of delinquent children, the feeble-minded and the crippled...
...The Dark Rosaleen, full of sonorous and sensuous beauty, edged with wistfulness and power, finds the seed of its theme in ancient Gaelic days...
...It was his boast uttered in pure glee of heart that we would run into a mousehole to shun him...
...Hence they hailed the central Catholic organizations as a great source of relief...
...One hour exotic, strangely iridescent dreams of power and pageantry floated before his mind...
...The last stanza throbs with a noble ferocity in lines of Grecian simplicity and power: "O, the Erne shall run red, With redundance of blood, The earth shall rock beneath our tread, And flames wrap hill and wood, And gun-peal and slogan-cry Wake many a glen serene, Ere you shall fade, ere you shall die, My Dark Rosaleen ! Mangan's calmer Irish poems are less admired, for all their charm...
...As social work generally came to express itself in strong city-wide organizations, it was most important that there should be a central organization fully representative of Catholic interests...
...In the following paper Professor O'Grady examines several aspects of the contemporary situation, of interest to all who are directly or remotely concerned with charitable endeavor...
...Some would be highly conscious of their social responsibilities, others would be indifferent toward them...
...They came to see social work in its proper perspective as an integral part of the work of the Church in reaching human souls, in brightening human lives, and in bringing men closer to God...
...Through their study of non-sectarian work they recognized the limitations of purely parochial programs...
...In the flowering-time of Keats, Shelley and Byron he studied in a desultory and haphazard manner whenever his clerical duties subsided...
...Louise Imogen Guiney says that Mangan "seems to blight and then revivify all he touches...
...Many parishes which until recently had flourishing congregations have lost their best supporters and are compelled to depend on a small number of wage-earners' families...
...He fails to catch the sailor-like, whimsical mood of the sea, while Ferguson dashes along in a Masefield manner scooping the dusky Kerry sails...
...October 30, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 669 In the past, non-sectarian agencies were frequently at a loss in regard to the religious problems arising in Catholic families since it was often difficult for them to develop a common basis of understanding in dealing with Catholic parishes...
...it alone had the authority and prestige necessary to prevent overlapping and duplication of 670 THE COMMONWEAL October 30, 1929 effort, to supplement existing agencies and to lead them to better standards...
...He keeps very close to his thoughtful and spiritual model...
...A nameless minstrel of the Tyrconnell chief, Hugh Roe, used to sing for his lord melodies of his native land...
...The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul established the first clearing bureau in Catholic social work in the United States...
...His incomplete autobiography states concerning his father: "Me, my brothers and sisters he treated habitually as a huntsman would treat refractory hounds...
...He called Ireland "Roisin Dubh," the black-haired little rose...
...For the training of leaders and workers we must have schools...
...In 1845 the poet combined the best in the fascinating Roisin Dubh with his own concept of the theme...
...Institutions known as infant asylums were accordingly established, usually combining the care of babies with work for unmarried mothers...
...His offerings to the Muse from Gaelic sources thrill with denunciations against Ireland's thraldom, with pride of her stout-hearted heroes and with a plaintive lament for the dead...
...Originally it was assumed that the same institution could provide care for children of all ages and types...
...Beginning with the thirties of the last century, great numbers of immigrants began to pour into American cities...
...The second attempt remained naive and prose-llke...
...The old concerns of charity --the home, the orphan child, the vagrant and the unfit-remain, however, central and constant...
...In a number of centres of this arrangement--public wards are committed to private institutions and are paid for by the cities and counties on a per capita basis--still continues...
...It, of course, does not aim to supplant the institution but to supplement it...
...But I have an inward feeling that to him I owe all my misfortunes...
...Their leaders recognized that if unified and systematic programs of Catholic charities were to be developed, they must be developed under the leadership and direction of the bishops in their respective dioceses...
...From very humble beginnings fifteen years ago the diocesan programs of Catholic charities in the United States have come to a position of leadership not only in Catholic work but in social work as a whole...
...Each Catholic organization and institution was perfectly capable of rendering a worth-while service in its own department...
...A comparison of the two versions forces the latter into second place...
...These poems lack any vein of humor or merriment...
...The lay organizations found that there was a certain point past which they could not reach in programs making for Catholic work as a whole...
...Through their Saint Vincent de Paul conferences they have sought to develop lay participation in Catholic charities...
...A number of bishops, religious communities and national societies took the initiative in establishing orphanages for the care of these children, which in many of the larger cities antedated any special public provision for handicapped children...
...Its work will be closely related to that of organizations interested in the conservation of the family life of the child, and through its contact with outside agencies it will be able to keep a watchful eye on the child after he is discharged...
...To crown all, an unfortunate love affair in which he was spurned shattered all his ideals of love...
...From this relationship were developed some of the outstanding leaders in Catholic social work in the United States...
...Soon he became a victim of drugs...
...MANGAN, THE IRISH DREAMER By HELAN MAREE TOOLE HERE were two Mangans in James Clarence...
...The question immediately arose as to how far the Church should go in this sort of specialization...
...It has been made an integral part of a diocesan plan of Catholic charities...
...Hemans published her first volume of sentimental verse...
...When the northern clans battled with Queen Elizabeth's army and the Jacobite insurrection was seething Ireland was, according to the song of the MacGregors, "nameless by day...
...No longer will the orphanage or the shelter be an isolated unit in Catholic work...
...The Horizons have altered in social welfare work, and notably in the realm of Catholic activity new methods and purposes are to the fore...
...Many pastors looked upon them as Protestant agencies...
...The next hour, a paramount struggle seized him...
...The diocese alone was in a position to plan intelligently for the future...
...In The Woman of Three Cows, Mangan is at ease, having immediately the racy and daring sarcasm of the original...
...One was well known to the police, a man dominated by drugs or liquor, crouched in a Dublin gutter...
...With its manifold responsibilities the ordinary American diocese has been unable to command sufficient resources to finance institutions confined to the care of feeble-minded and crippled children, though a few of the larger dioceses have provided homes of limited capacity...
...The Catholic child-caring institutions of the United States are rooted deeply in the traditions of the past...
...There were many things which the parish organizations needed to know about the resources of the community in the way of relief, health, legal aid, the courts, and which it was hoped the central organization could supply...
...Even in the closing apostrophe to the colossal and broken cliff Mangan's words are weak while Ferguson's are vital, warm and strong...
...The logical thing to do was to set up a central clearing bureau which would be the point of contact between all parish volunteer groups and the community, and which would also serve as an information centre...
...The epic prose poem of Roisin Dubh, when translated at random from the Gaelic, is crude...
...Accordingly the public authorities entered into an arrangement with the Catholic and other private institutions for the care of public wards...
...Outside of a few of the large dioceses, the same has been true of delinquent Catholic boys...
...In the new Catholic institutional program such an objective is readily attainable...
...But what promise was there for future planning and development...
...They initiated many of the things that have become a part of the accepted public needs that could not be met by either individuals or private agencies...
...Thanks, however, to the labors of the Good Shepherd Sisters, many dioceses have been aid toward the establishment of homes for delinquent girls...
...His disturbed mind is revealed in Rest Only in the Grave...
...The child-caring institution or orphanage occupies a very large place in Catholic charities in the United States...
...He began to translate and paraphrase the lyrics of these men, embroidering the product with Mangan illusions and metaphors...
...They always emphasized the fact that Catholic social agencies had little to gain and much to lose by isolating themselves from the other agencies of the community...
...The contact with the parish was, in turn, useful to the agency in that it gave it an opportunity of guiding a group of volunteers toward improved standards...
...He found pleasure sitting in a nook with a book or soaring into the empyreal sphere seeking inspiration for his art...
...This would have meant as many different types of relationship and standards of work as there were parishes...
...Tyranny and poverty forced the studious boy to abandon the forlorn schoolhouse in Derby Square...
...At the present writing some thirty dioceses have adopted fairly systematic programs...
...Mangan was born in 18o3, the year that Moore became Admiralty Registrar at Bermuda and that Mrs...
...One of the most important problems confronting the institution today is the reception and discharge of children...
...His biographer and contemporary, Mitchell, says that Mangan had the "unmistakable alabaster shine" of Coleridge and De Quincey...
...The number of poor in these parishes has increased in inverse ratio to their resources...
...In many of his...
...Their upbuilding has represented a hard and bitter struggle...
...The opening and close of this bardic fragment substantiates the testimony of scholars that this is an allegory of proscribed patriots...
...The success of the diocesan organizations of Catholic charities will depend very largely on the type of leadership and service they provide...
...A note of grim tragedy was struck in his youth which clouded his later life, making him morbid and sensitive...
...The diocese alone was duly qualified to speak for Catholic philanthropic work as a whole...
...Those who share the heritage of these pioneers have reason to bless their memory for they did much to develop a more wholesome respect for the Catholic point of view...
...Still undaunted Mangan tried a third time...
...He wants to see it reach out into those fields in which its influence is needed most, and to give special attention to children who need intensive religious and moral training...
...In order to meet this situation, many far-seeing pastors in the past established co6perative relations with non-sectarian agencies and public relief departments...
...Sir Samuel Ferguson and Mangan interpreted the Gaelic Boatman's Song...
...Catholic charities have been compelled to look to public institutions for the care of most of the Catholic unfortunates of this type...
...668 T H E C O M M O N W E A L October 3 o, i929 NEW PERSPECTIVES IN CHARITY By JOHN O'GRADY ATHOLIC social work has always been regarded as an essential part of the pastoral ministry...
...Nevertheless there is the typical Mangan addition all unwarranted and new...
...Above everything else they need leaders and workers who are inspired by the finest ideals and who have a thorough appreciation and understanding of the best modern methods in the care of the needy and afflicted...
...Since these communities were pressed for increased personnel by the schools and hospitals, as much attention could not be given them as might have been desired...
...From their daily experience they came to appreciate the need of city-wide programs of Catholic charities, in order that the Church might be able effectively to discharge its pastoral responsibilities...
...It goes much further and seeks to find private homes for their wards...

Vol. 10 • October 1929 • No. 26


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