INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC UNION OF SOCIAL SERVICE. – An association of Catholics established to study, promote, and represent internationally the Catholic viewpoint concerning Social Service.
The U.C.I.S.S. was founded in Milan on 17–19 October 1925, with statutes that were subsequently modified and revised in 1948. These were later brought into conformity with the provisions of the Belgian law of 1919, which grants civil personality to international associations of a scientific nature. Such personality was accorded to the U.C.I.S.S. by royal decree on 4 November 1950.
I. **AIMS OF THE U.C.I.S.S.** – These are: 1) to develop social service so as to contribute to the establishment of a social order in conformity with natural law and inspired by Catholic social doctrine; 2) to study jointly, in the light of Catholic principles, scientific and practical questions concerning social service; 3) to promote the creation of Catholic schools of social service and the formation of Catholic groups of social assistance in various countries; 4) to facilitate relations between schools of social service and between groups of social assistance, so as to coordinate and support their action; 5) to represent, in official or private international spheres, the Catholic viewpoint concerning social service.
II. ORGANIZATION. – The U.C.I.S.S. comprises two sections: that of the Schools of Social Service, which also groups together Centres of Social Formation; and that of the Professional Associations of Social Workers.
It is animated by a Committee and a Presidency. The Committee is composed of delegates of the effective members, namely one delegate for each school and one delegate for each group of social workers affiliated to the U.C.I.S.S.
The Presidency or Central Office is composed of a group varying from six to twenty persons, chosen by the Committee and forming part of it: half represent the schools, the other half the groups of social workers. The Central Office appoints a president, a general secretary, and, if necessary, one or more technical advisers. A moral adviser, that is, a kind of ecclesiastical assistant, appointed by the local Ordinary, is ex officio a member of the Central Office. The daily work and the execution of the decisions of the Committee and the Central Office are ensured by a secretary under the responsibility of the general secretary, who may take on collaborators. At the meetings of the Committee and at the congresses, only the delegates of the effective members have the right to vote.
III. MEMBERS. – These are distinguished into effective, adhering, and individual members. The effective members are: 1) Catholic schools of social service, that is, schools which, through theoretical and practical courses of at least one year, culminating in an examination, provide those who attend them with technical and moral training, with a view to preparing them for social service and social action (whether feminine, masculine, or mixed, university or otherwise); 2) groups of social workers, that is, associations with statutes which group as effective members Catholic social workers who have graduated from a school of social service. The adhering members are: 1) schools of social service recently founded and which have not yet trained any graduates; 2) centres of social formation or temporary consortia of social service which do not train social workers but prepare simple militants of Christian social action for such studies; 3) groups of social workers in the initial stage. The individual members are: A. 1) directors of schools of social service who, for one reason or another, cannot be members of the U.C.I.S.S.; 2) Catholic members of the Committee and of the teaching staff of the schools of social service, whether they are effective or adhering members or not; B. 1) Catholic social workers or assistants, graduates, from countries which do not yet have a Catholic professional association or which, for one reason or another, are not represented by effective or adhering members; 2) expert Catholic social workers; C. qualified persons of other kinds. The U.C.I.S.S. currently groups together 89 schools of social service and centres of social formation, and 28 associations of social workers from 27 countries on all continents. Twelve schools, centres of social formation, and associations are in correspondence with the secretary with a view to affiliation. This would bring the number of members of the U.C.I.S.S. to about 130, not counting individual members.
IV. CONGRESSES AND ACTIVITIES. – The Secretary of the Christian Women’s Social Works of Belgium, based in Brussels, who had founded two schools of social service as early as 1920, perceived in 1925 the need to establish a link between the schools of social service existing in various countries. The project was enthusiastically received at the Milan Congress of 1925; 25 schools gave their adhesion. International conferences followed rapidly: Brussels 1926; Aix-la-Chapelle 1927; Paris 1929. Committee meetings, study days, and propaganda meetings were intercalated between the congresses. In 1935, the tenth anniversary of the U.C.I.S.S., a great congress was held in Brussels which brought together 65 congresses from 29 countries. The concept of Social Service, which the U.C.I.S.S. had sought to define during its early years, was accepted by the entire congress: to promote a social service which, through its constructive technique, would tend towards the establishment of a Christian social order.
The world war interrupted international meetings. As early as 1946, the Secretary of the U.C.I.S.S. organized a new international gathering in Brussels: 30 schools and 12 groups responded to the call to examine, among other things, a draft code of professional ethics for social workers and some form of social service. In 1947, the 6th Congress took place in Lucerne. Five hundred persons attended. Among the topics studied were the International Code of Professional Ethics of Social Service and the adaptation of social service to present-day social transformations. In 1949, international days brought together in Nijmegen, Holland, the delegates of the groups of social workers. The 25th anniversary of the U.C.I.S.S. (1950), during the Holy Year, was marked by an important congress in Rome, which had the honour of a letter from the Pope addressed to the general president and concluded with a solemn audience in St Peter’s Basilica (*AAS*, 42 [1950], pp. 485–88).
In 1951, two cycles of studies were held for the directors and professors of the Schools of Social Service; one in Montpellier for French-speaking auditors, the other in Beuron for German-speaking ones. A cycle of study took place in Bernried for social workers from German-speaking countries and another for French-speaking ones in 1952, in Pau.
V. EXTENSION IN AMERICA AND OTHER CONTINENTS. – The relations of the U.C.I.S.S. with the Schools of Social Service of the United States and Canada were established from the beginning and as the schools were created. Two of their most eminent representatives are members of the Central Office of the U.C.I.S.S. Around 1930, the U.C.I.S.S. began its action also in Latin America. Three secretaries were created in Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. In July 1949, a study meeting of the U.C.I.S.S. took place in São Paulo. The union is endeavouring to expand in America, Asia, and Occitania.
VI. INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
The U.C.I.S.S. maintains the best relations with international bodies that seek to uphold the Christian ideal in international life and that are concerned with the development of social service throughout the world; it also participates in congresses of this kind. Since 1926 it has played an active role in the Conference of Presidents of Catholic International Organizations. It was admitted as a consultative body (Category B) to the United Nations Economic and Social Council in August 1947. It collaborates with the International Labour Organization and with UNESCO (q.v.).VII. PUBLICATIONS, DOCUMENTATION, AND STUDY TOURS
The U.C.I.S.S. provides information to those who approach it regarding the organization of Schools of Social Service. The quarterly journal it publishes, *Servizio sociale nel mondo*, is the first international forum devoted to questions of social service. It organizes periods of practical training, exchanges, and study tours in various countries for students, for staff of social schools, and for social service agents.VIII. See THE JOURNALS AND THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESSES INDICATED IN THE TEXT. Maria Baers