Villanova College | Ethnographic Investigation | 12 study of religion |

Michael Barton
2012
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Table of Contents Introduction 2 Interview questions and response 3 Interview report 6 Conclusion 7

Introduction

The fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice (businessdictionary). The Catholic faith has heavily involved itself in the issue of modern day poverty for the best part of the last century as well as the new we currently reside in. In order to improve this issue the church and state must understand the issue and work together in order to decrease the issue of poverty in Australia. The State and the church both involve themselves heavily in this issue, but aid is still needed from both sides to improve their possible responses. Saint Vincent De Pauls is one of the largest charities fighting against the struggle of poverty in Australia. Interviewed to discuss Saint Vincent De Pauls involvement was Robert Leach.

Interview questions and response

Robert Leach
1. What is your understanding of poverty?
Poverty is usually understood as financial deprivation – a severe lack of money or purchasing power. However, this definition of poverty can and should be expanded to include the lack of amenities, living on the margins of society, lack of security, lack of services, homelessness, loneliness, addictions, spiritual poverty (a lack of faith in a loving God) – that is, anything that people should have access to but for some reason are denied that access.
2. How does your description fit into the poverty in Australia?
In Australia there are many individuals and households (families) who lack the things many of us take for granted – one or more of the aspects mentioned above in my response to your first question. One of the poor’s most basic problems is the cost of retaining a roof over their heads. Housing costs in Australia are much higher than in most other countries and rents are often ridiculously high, leaving people with little money to pay their other bills, provide education for their children and feed them adequately. Well over 100,000 people in Australia, men women and children, are homeless.
3. What do you believe should be done to counter poverty on the streets of Australia?
It is not easy to find solutions. We need to provide more employment. We need to encourage and support people to become better educated. We need to provide better and cheaper government housing. We need to provide more rental support for people on low incomes. In fairness to the various governments (federal and state), efforts are being made in these areas but there is a lot of catching up to do.
4. How does the Society of Saint Vincent De Paul fight poverty in Australia?
There are conferences (groups) throughout Australia in most Catholic parishes and the members of those conferences are rostered on a weekly basis to visit people in their homes or welcome them at what we call Family Support Centres. Food, clothing, furniture and other items can be provided to the poor either completely free of charge or at very low cost.
The Society also has hundreds of homes - many provided with government support – for poor people. It also offers No Interest Loans - with the help of the National Australia Bank –to people on low incomes.
The Society also speaks up for those treated unjustly and has a special committee to look after the interests of migrants and refugees. There is an Overseas Development Committee which provides services to poor countries like Papua New Guinea. Each year the Society launches at least three appeals throughout Catholic parishes and to the general public through the media: the Christmas Appeal; The Winter Appeal, and the Overseas Students Appeal. A considerable amount of money is thus raised to support the Society’s efforts on behalf of the poor.

5. What kind of relationship exists between the Government and the Christian churches
The relationship is generally quite good. Governments provide millions of dollars supporting the churches’ various activities on behalf of the poor. There are tensions with regard to some issues: the treatment of refugees, the relative lack of housing, the push for gay marriage, the occasional push for euthanasia by some politicians…
6. Does the government fund the Saint Vincent de Paul Society in helping the homeless?
As mentioned above, yes. Governments both state and federal don’t cover all the Society’s expenses with regard to support for the homeless but they do offer considerable support. The Society is very grateful for all the support it receives from governments.
7. What do you believe the Christian message is?
Love God with all your heart, with all of your mind and all your soul, and your neighbour (everyone) as yourself.
8. How does your view of the Christian message fit into The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul’s ways of helping the poor?
Members of the SVDP Society are encouraged not only to be generous with material support for the poor and the marginalised, but also to be good listeners, to be empathetic, kind, patient and willing to make a real effort to get them on their feet, give them dignity and help them to become self-sufficient. Most importantly, to help them become aware of God’s great love for them through the good works the Society does on their behalf. In a word to LOVE them in accordance with the Christian message as mentioned above.

9. What role does religion play in the lives of people?
The Catholic religion plays a major role in the Society of SVDP. It is a Catholic lay organisation and the meetings of members start and end with prayers; members are also encouraged to attend Mass and the sacraments regularly and to respect the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The people assisted by the Society come from a variety of backgrounds – religious and non-religious. The Society of SVDP makes no distinctions in terms of who it assists. In society generally, it appears that religion is becoming less of an influence. This is unfortunate as religion does encourage people to care about others less fortunate than themselves.
10. What is your view on religion, and how it should be involved in political decisions?
As mentioned and explained above, religion is very important. While no religion has direct political power in our democracy there is no reason whatsoever that religion people should not try to put their views on various matters forward. Because we live in a democracy everyone from whatever background has a right to vote and has a right to voice an opinion. This obviously includes people whose views have been influenced by their religious background.

Interview report

This interview was conducted via email with Robert Leach. He speaks on behalf of Saint Vincent De Pauls charity with his answers. This interview is on the importance of religion within Australian Society in regards to the issue of poverty.

Religion is an important part of Saint Vincent De Pauls, as it is a Lay Organisation. Vinnie encourages people to care for one another, especially for those who are less fortunate. To help members are encouraged to attend masses and prayer before and after every meeting to show respect to the teachings of Catholic Church. Religion is becoming less popular with every generation, but that does not stop Vinnie’s from putting a hand out to help those who are in need. Saint Vincent De Pauls follow the teaching from the bible of ‘Love God with all your heart, with all your mind and all your soul, and your neighbour (everyone) as yourself’. This fits into their plan as the volunteers are encouraged to not only be generous with donations of goods, but they are also needed to be good listeners, empathetic, kind, patient and willing to make a real effort to get people their feet, give people dignity and help the people to become self-sufficient. They also try to help them become aware of God’s great love for them through the work the society has done for them.

In order for Saint Vincent De Pauls to help decrease poverty throughout Australia, the charity needs donations from the public as well as funding of millions of dollars from the Government. This all goes to helping to provide the poor with food, clothing and shelter, the essentials for surviving in a modern society. To help provide these, Saint Vincent De Pauls give Food, clothing, furniture and other items out either free of charge or for a low cost. The society also helps some of the poorer people who have a low income, by allowing them to live in Homes that are built by the government. These homes have no interest loans added to it. Each year the Society of Saint Vincent De Pauls launch at least three appeals throughout Catholic parishes and to the general public through the media: the Christmas Appeal; The Winter Appeal, and the Overseas Students Appeal. These appeals raise a considerable amount of money to support the Society’s efforts on behalf of the poor. The money that is made from these appeals as well as general donations and the funding from the government are all used to deliver the goods to the people who need it the most or provide help. Saint Vincent De Pauls offer help with Family Support centres or have people who go to the houses and offer aid.

Saint Vincent De Pauls is one of the biggest supporters to those who suffer poverty, but in order to keep the support up they need money and a large portion of their money comes from the Government who every year fund millions of Dollars to help the charity.

Conclusion

12.26 MAJOR RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS | | Christianity | | | | | | | | | | | | Anglican | Catholic | Other | Total | Other religions | No religion | Not stated/ inadequately described | Total | Census year | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | '000 | | 1901 | 39.7 | 22.7 | 33.7 | 96.1 | 1.4 | 0.4 | (a)2.0 | 3,773.8 | 1911 | 38.4 | 22.4 | 35.1 | 95.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | (a)2.9 | 4,455.0 | 1921 | 43.7 | 21.7 | 31.6 | 96.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | (a)1.9 | 5,435.7 | 1933 | 38.7 | 19.6 | 28.1 | 86.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 12.9 | 6,629.8 | 1947 | 39.0 | 20.9 | 28.1 | 88.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 11.1 | 7,579.4 | 1954 | 37.9 | 22.9 | 28.5 | 89.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 9.7 | 8,986.5 | 1961 | 34.9 | 24.9 | 28.4 | 88.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 10.7 | 10,508.2 | 1966 | 33.5 | 26.2 | 28.5 | 88.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 10.3 | 11,599.5 | 1971 | 31.0 | 27.0 | 28.2 | 86.2 | 0.8 | 6.7 | 6.2 | 12,755.6 | 1976 | 27.7 | 25.7 | 25.2 | 78.6 | 1.0 | 8.3 | 11.4 | 13,548.4 | 1981 | 26.1 | 26.0 | 24.3 | 76.4 | 1.4 | 10.8 | 11.4 | 14,576.3 | 1986 | 23.9 | 26.0 | 23.0 | 73.0 | 2.0 | 12.7 | 12.4 | 15,602.2 | 1991 | 23.8 | 27.3 | 22.9 | 74.0 | 2.6 | 12.9 | 10.5 | 16,850.3 | 1996 | 22.0 | 27.0 | 21.9 | 70.9 | 3.5 | 16.6 | 9.0 | 17,752.8 | 2001 | 20.7 | 26.6 | 20.7 | 68.0 | 4.9 | 15.5 | 11.7 | 18,769.2 |

Figure 1

The table above shows how popular the Catholic faith is compared to the many other religions in Australia in certain years according to the census being conducted. Being such a popular faith, the Catholic Church has a relatively large opinion in issues that occur around the world. These opinions sometimes conflict with the Governments opinion such issues are like euthanasia, abortion, refugees, and terror attacks. regardless there are issues in which the church and the cooperate together, such as aged care, hospitals and education. Both the state and the church have publicly criticised and attacked the other. Religion does have a place on certain issues that occur in politics, but also interferes in issues where their opinions are not wanted and can be seen as bias.
The Catholic faith has heavily involved itself in the issue of modern day poverty for the best part of the last century as well as the new we currently reside in. In order to improve this issue the church and state must understand the issue and work together in order to decrease the issue of poverty in Australia. The State and the church both involve themselves heavily in this issue, but aid is still needed from both sides to improve their possible responses. Saint Vincent De Pauls is one of the largest charities fighting against the struggle of poverty in Australia. In order for Saint Vincent De Pauls to help decrease poverty throughout Australia, the charity needs donations from the public as well as funding of millions of dollars from the Government. This all goes to helping to provide the poor with food, clothing and shelter, the essentials for surviving in a modern society. To help provide these, Saint Vincent De Pauls give Food, clothing, furniture and other items out either free of charge or for a low cost. The society also helps some of the poorer people who have a low income, by allowing them to live in Homes that are built by the government. These homes have no interest loans added to it. Each year the Society of Saint Vincent De Pauls launch at least three appeals throughout Catholic parishes and to the general public through the media: the Christmas Appeal; The Winter Appeal, and the Overseas Students Appeal.

The Catholic Church is known to show a more ethical view than that of a money making view that the government possess. With poverty, the church has set up numerous charities that involve helping the poor to get back onto their feet and be able to live a live securely under a roof with all necessary needs to survive. Saint Vincent De Pauls are one of the charities that the Government helps out with; they fund millions of dollars every year for the goods and services provided by the charity. The government offers home for people to live in who have low income. These homes with the help of the National Australian Bank are charged with little to no interest rates. To be able to make progress in the poverty front the government needs to produce jobs that allow those with little to no experience or support to earn a stable income so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.