Miejsce i rola posługi charytatywnej w całokształcie duszpasterstwa społecznego Kościoła

Abstract

To answer the title question about the place and role of charitable activities in all aspects of the Church social ministiy, it should be remarked that the notion of social m inistiy originated form charity work. This work will therefore continue to play a significant role in social ministry. Social ministry cannot be limited, however, to charity work since, as it was pointed out, it includes numerous other social activities of the Church. Church charity work combines two elements, her activity “ad intra” as well as “ad extra”. This conclusion holds true particularly in a situation when many Catholics forget that the indications of Church social studies refer, and in the first place too, to Church herself and are not only addressed to the world. In the first part of this article, not without a reason, much attention was drawn to the forming of mutual relations between Church and State, pointing not only to the autonomy of these institutions but to the necessity of their cooperation for the benefit of man. Charitable activity constitutes an area in which the cooperation can be free from major disturbances and in this sense charity work can become not so much a “testing ground” but a “school” of cooperation within the whole area of Church social ministry.