THE GLOBE
PO BOX 5079 (51102)
1825 JACKSON ST.
SIOUX CITY, IA (51105)
712.255.2550
800.352.9035
WWW.CATHOLICGLOBE.ORG

By Jerry Eaton, LMSW
Executive Director
Catholic Charities

The financial problems our society has faced after the stock market crash and the ongoing financial problems facing our federal, state, and local governments have impacted all of us. At Catholic Charities we have witnessed a long term pulling away by government in terms of funding for those in need of mental health services and social services. There is logic to it.

  For many years people believed that if there was a problem the government could and should handle it. When every problem becomes the responsibility of government it isn’t long before the resources are stretched very thin. As the cost of government goes up so do taxes.

  The public outcry about taxes being too high then led to two things; cutting taxes while also cutting back on levels of funding for social programs, with people still believing that if there was a problem it was the government’s responsibility. The pressure was still on our federal government to assume responsibility and expenses for all problems for our society, and the high costs of government continued with the result of huge deficits as our nation went from being the world’s largest creditor nation to being the world’s largest debtor nation in the 1980’s.

We ask a great deal of our government while not wanting to pay the taxes necessary to accomplish what we ask. In the field of social services we have watched this happen as our society went from all of the “Great Society” programs and the “War on Poverty” of the 1960’s and 1970’s, to the ongoing battle to reduce “entitlement” programs and at Catholic Charities we have learned some valuable lessons.

  The first lesson is that a government can’t do one essential thing when it comes to providing social services – government can’t love. Governments are bureaucracies, and have to be; those actually providing services and the people needing the services are so far removed from those making the funding decisions that what needs to happen and what actually happens are very different.

  As our governments try to control spending, they focus on money. All of the efforts to control spending are to tighten the rules and regulations and to seek ways to make cuts. Our government actually adds to the cost of providing services by doing this as those actually providing service spend more and more time dealing with the funding source requirements and documentation and less time providing service. Everyone who deals with our governments know this process quite well and as our government does this our government also asks providers to do more with less funding.

As the focus moves from the people needing services to money there is also suspicion about those seeking services – as if they are freeloaders seeking to take advantage rather than people in need of services. While there are always people trying to take advantage they are very much in the minority, but they suddenly become the focal point of attention and this too simply reinforces our governments lack of care or love.

The second lesson is how dependent people become on government to solve problems while letting go of our need to respond to one another with what our faith teaches us to do. Christ came and held out that stone asking for the one without sin to throw the first stone, helping us recognize that we all sin. Christ gave us the new commandment to love one another. As we recognize that we shouldn’t simply sit in judgment of others for their failings; we should reach out with the love of Christ to meet out mutual needs.

 Instead we have turned over a lot of the responsibility for social action to the government. In the process the government became overwhelmed with more responsibility than it could rightfully handle. Yet, we don’t want that responsibility placed back on us instead of on our government. We rail against any government intrusion, yet when we want any social problem solved we still look to our government for action to solve that problem.
At Catholic Charities we watched as this process was going on and we responded by renewing our Catholic identity and renewing ourselves as a charity instead of a government subcontractor doing the work of the government instead of the work of the Church.

Back in the 1980’s we would go to meetings and everyone there would say the sky is going to fall because of government cutbacks. Yet, none of us let that happen, we worked harder with less and it seemed to work.

 Looking back at what happened, it wasn’t that the sky was falling, instead it was like putting a frog that would jump out of boiling water, into lukewarm water and then slowly increasing the heat to the point that the frog dies. The result is that the social services delivery system is dysfunctional and the real needs of people aren’t being met. We have to realize that government action alone isn’t the answer – living our faith is a large part of the real answer.