Social Services Offered by Faith-based Organizations in the Post-Secular Society

Abstract

Within this present paper we reviewed a series of particularities of the process of professionalization of charity and of formation of social work were reviewed, and also we highlighted the differences between the specificities of the social work carried out by secular organizations as compared to that carried out by organizations with a religious profile. A model of social Christianity was discussed, highlighting the Christian, historical foundations of social work. We started our analysis from the theory expressed regarding the post-secular society by Jurgen Habermas, in order to outline the model of social Christianity and the manner of its manifestation in faith-based social work organizations, so that in the end we were able to draw a series of theoretical conclusions regarding the types of faith-based organizations identified in the literature. The empirical research consists of a qualitative study, based on the application of semi-structured interviews, with 25 persons, priests, social workers and monks involved in the socialphilanthropic activity of the Orthodox Church. The interviews were conducted between October 2018 and January 2019 within the Diocese of Iasi and were analysed using Grounded Theory. After analysing the results, emerged a theoretical model regarding the specific activity of the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC) as a faith-based organization providing social philanthropic services.

Understanding the Interplay of Religion and Social Policy: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Policies cannot be designed with the explicit goal of promoting religion. Court decisions, such as Nistor (2019) and Bartkowski & Grettenberger (2018), have set crucial tests for government funding of social services by faith-based organizations, ensuring services are not limited to a particular religious affiliation, remain non-religious in character, avoid substantial risk of religious indoctrination, prevent religious institutions from being the sole beneficiaries, and ensure any incidental advancement of religion is minimal. Proposals like public funding for vouchers and President Bush's faith-based social services initiative have faced criticism for potentially breaching the constitutional separation of church and state (Chemerinsky & McDonald, 2018).…”

Community-Society Equilibrium: Religious Organizations in the Service of a Secular State

“…Most studies of religious organizations focus on the services provided to community members by local churches or small religious institutions (e.g., Evans and Hudson 2014 ; Campbell 2016 ; Cnaan and Heist 2018 ), or on the relationship between religion and state regulations among larger faith-based organizations, such as hospitals or social service agencies (e.g., Hosu and Frunză 2013 ; Berg 2015 ; Ivanova et al 2019 ). Research suggests that in some cases these faith-based organizations evolve from achieving narrowly religious goals in the arenas of education and social services to establishing themselves as accepted professionals in a secular field, especially after government funding is obtained (Hosu and Frunză 2013 ; Sandu and Caras 2013 ; Nistor 2019 ). Studies show that when management and volunteers are affiliated with a specific faith-based community, the organization usually maintains its religious identity and commitment to promoting a religious agenda while serving clients (Bielefeld 2006 ; Crisp 2015 ).…”

Towards a Model of Supervision in Social Work Institutions in the N-E Region of Romania

“…The purpose of supervision is correlated with institutional practice, but it also includes the need to ensure the quality of social services (Nistor, 2018).…”