A reflection for CNEWA on Armenian Caritas identity in the perspective of faith dimension

Armenian Caritas is a part of the large family of Caritas Internationalis-a confederation of national Caritas organizations which all share the same mission of “Caritas”-charity of the Catholic Church to the people in need everywhere and anytime. As our President, Raphael Archbishop Minasyan, told once: “Caritas is the only child of the Universal Catholic Church, or simply the charitable tool of the Church of the Lord: Can you imagine this unique child, with a very special character coming to the world and telling with the evangelist Mathew: “Come to me all you, who are labour and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest ”?”.

We, the clerics, the lay specialists and volunteers working for Armenian Caritas, have been trying to enhance the understanding of the necessity of integral development in the work of Armenian Caritas, paying particular attention to the spiritual growth of the staff alongside with the professional competence.

While reflecting on the work style of our Armenian Caritas personnel, we observed an occasional overlooking of the spiritual and evangelizing dimension of our work: not all of our staff members or volunteers have been guided primarily by the convincement that the real Subject of the work they are doing is the Lord Jesus and His Church, that they take part in His work as agents and collaborators in bringing the messages of hope and relief to people in need by means of various projects, which are not necessarily religious, yet which must be motivated by faith.

To be true, we often pay attention to the know-how of more social, psychological, technical, juridical aspects forgetting to be more attentive to the spiritual ground and motive of our work in Caritas. The reasons for this lack of symphony between social action and spirituality have been caused by various factors: just to mention several -1. we deal with different religious and social background of people working in Armenian Caritas, 2. soviet era influence and 3. the worldwide problem of technocratic, industrialized mentality, which permeates all societies even such conservative ones like ours.

So, we have come to conclusion, that we need first to restore or promote further inner integrity (professional competence + spiritual growth) of the subjects of the work in order to be able to reach the integrity of the social care for target groups of our social care and as a result the integral development of each of the beneficiaries. If the personnel lack the adequate understanding of their work, the results will be dissatisfying if not for the staff members then for the Lord and His Church, for sure. Because we, understand, that we work for the Lord and His Church: our sole employer is Jesus Christ with His Church: this should be understandable for all Caritas workers.
The following words of Pope Francis can be adequately applied also to Caritas: “The necessary realism proper to politics and economy cannot be reduced to mere technical know-how bereft of ideals and unconcerned with the transcendent dimension of man…Only when politics and the economy are open to moving within the wide space ensured by the One who loves each man and each woman, will they…become effective instruments of integral human development and peace” (Pope Francis, World Day of Peace Message, 1 January 2014, 10).
We can recall also Pope Benedict’s words: “…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” (Deus Caritas Est, 31 a).

The basis for integral development of our Caritas staff is certainly their active religious life: their understanding of the essence of their belief, liturgical practices, prayer and getting at least a basic acquaintance with the content of the Social Teaching of the Church (CST). Therefore, we, the clerics and the administration of Armenian Caritas, decided to open a constant and widening space for spiritual contemplation over the religious truths combining it with a deeper knowledge of CST. We have started workshops, periodical meetings (with short prayers) for all of the staff members and volunteers to ponder over the main content of CST, Christian anthropology, while forming these reflections also taking into account the particularities of Armenian mentality and traditions. The social teaching of the Catholic Church with its main goal of a fuller human development is also one of the best soils for the mutual understanding and for finding common grounds for people of various ideological and denominational backgrounds starting with the believers of the Armenian Catholic Church, Armenian Apostolic Church (the majority of the staff are Armenian Apostolic believers), of Evangelical Church, semi-atheists, or semi-agnostics. We have found with the staff members a general interest in CST topics, which relate the real aspects of their lives and work, which stimulated us to elaborate a more concrete project of entrenching CST in the ethos and work of our organization. As a result, with our stewardship, in 2018 the administration and the staff updated the main strategy of the organization including paragraphs which ground the strategical directions of Armenian Caritas on the CST principles and the mission of the Catholic Church-an important step forward as compared to the previous experience.

Guided by the CST principles, Armenian Caritas as a service agency and within the scope of its various projects is a unique platform for ecumenical dialogue between Christian denominations: a strategical direction which should still be developed by means of meetings, public discussions on CST topics, media presentations, project components such as inclusive education, HIV awareness raising, family planning, community development, ecological care, etc…

In addition, as a Spiritual Adviser, since 2016, I have been also working, on daily basis, with the beneficiaries in all of the Caritas offices and projects in Armenia, with the aim of offering opportunities and ways for the spiritual, moral advance for the beneficiaries, for a deeper understanding of the mission of Armenian Caritas and of its relation with the Catholic Church and the Gospel of the Lord, the transmission of abundant love, without any discriminations or partial privileges or restrictions of freedom of choice, love given freely and unconditionally, charity which has had an experience of daily growth and dynamics of self-development since 1995, in Armenia.

Fr. Hovsep Galstyan, Spiritual Advisor for Armenian Caritas
15, November, 2019