Seminar on the principles of the Catholic social teaching

Caritas St. Petersburg dedicates the year 2012 to its project managers, the people thank to whom we are able to bring the word of God and our assistance to those in need. These are people on whose shoulders lies the work of Caritas.
The project managers are offered a training course that aims the following objectives:

To enhance the skills and the competence of the project managers in the area of social management, administration and management of ongoing activities,
To help the social service staff of Caritas St. Petersburgovercome fatigue, crisis situations, and dissatisfactioncaused by the lack of visible results of work.

On 27-29 February 2012,the first seminar of the training course was held for the project managers. It was dedicated to the mission and spirituality of Caritas as an organization of the Catholic Church, which realizes its social service.

The seminar helped the project managersbetter understand the working principles and the specifics of the work in accordance with the identity and the mission of Caritas.

The seminar was held by:

Rev. Hubert Matusevich (Poland), who has many years of work experience: 12 years as deputy director of Caritas Poland and 5 years as a spiritual advisorat Caritas Internationalis in Rome.
Rev. Mariano Jose Sedano Sierra, who has been acting as a spiritual advisor of Caritas St. Petersburg since 2001.

The seminar covered such topics as the emergence of the Catholic Social Teaching, its Mission, the specificity and the working principles of Caritas. In addition, such documents of Catholic Church were discussed as the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, various encyclicals, especially those by Pope Benendikt XVI.: "Deus Caritas Est," "Spe Salvi" and "Caritas in Veritate". It was also told about the actions of some saints (St. Francis, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Don Bosco, Blessed Regina Protmann, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, etc.) and the current social services of some monastic orders.
Special attention and much time were devoted to the principles of the Catholic Social Doctrine: human dignity, common good, subsidiarity, concern and solidarity.
Very interesting were the questions about the work experience of Caritas in Poland. Rev. Hubert Matusevichmade a brief overview of the book by Cardinal Cordes "Helpers do not fall from heaven: Caritas and spirituality".

The whole morning on 29 February was devoted to a visit to two charitable organizations: the Jewish organization "Hessed Awraam" and the Russian Orthodox organization "Pokrovskaya Obschina" ("Intercession of the Theotokos Community"). The Caritas project managers had an opportunity to learn more of the services, the principles and the methods of work of these both organizations that perform social services in their confessions.
The seminar was attended by 14 Caritas project managers, who have been working at Caritas for one to 15 years and belong to different denominations and religions: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam. No one of the managers was indifferent to the seminar; everyone expressed their expectations and impressions of the seminar.

Expectations of the Caritas project managers from the seminar:

To feel like a part of the Caritas team and to talk in a community of like-minded people;
To think about the spiritual norms, the motivation to work, and the mission of Caritas;
To prepare myself mentally to the work, to get a broader and more correct understanding of the Christian position;
To think about my own life position in solving my problems and issues of people I care of.

Impressions of the project managers from the seminar:

... Now I can clearly understand the principles of the Catholic social teaching, the mission of Caritas and my place in this service.
... Good theoretical knowledge was supplemented by examples from the private practice of the moderators as well as from the experience of Caritas St. Petersburg and the saints of the church.
... The discussions with the priests stimulate personal spiritual experiences and help revaluemy own professional activities.
... I have looked at my work from a new perspective. The atmosphere of the seminar was benevolent and practical. I've got a lot of useful experience and information. I work in a team of like-minded people!
... It was important to get a confirmation from the spiritual fathers, that it is necessary to “feel the client deeply” or, as Rev. Mariano said, “to get infected with his virus”.
... I am ready to continue my work with renewed energy.
... I was glad that I did not find any personal conflicts with the values of Caritas work neither in my understanding nor in my feelings. It was nice to meet Father Hubert!
... many useful experiences and information!

Dear Spiritual Fathers,
Thank you for the knowledge, understanding and feelings that we have received and experienced through participation in the seminar!

Natalia Pevtsova, director of Caritas St. Petersburg
and project managers of Caritas St. Petersburg