International Catholic Union for Social Service

INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC UNION OF SOCIAL SERVICE. – Association of Catholics for studying, promoting, and representing internationally the Catholic point of view concerning social service.

The I.C.U.S.S. was founded in Milan on 17–19 October 1925, with statutes that were modified and revised in 1948. They were subsequently brought into conformity with the provisions of the Belgian law of 1919, which grants civil personality to international associations for scientific purposes.

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This legal personality was granted to the I.C.U.S.S. by royal decree of 4 November 1950.
I. AIMS OF THE U.C.I.S.S. — They are: 1) to develop social work, in order to help bring about a social order in conformity with natural law and inspired by Catholic social teaching; 2) to study jointly, in the light of Catholic principles, the scientific and practical questions relating to social work; 3) to promote the establishment of Catholic schools of social work and of Catholic social-assistance groups in the various countries; 4) to facilitate relations among schools of social work and among social-assistance groups, in order to coordinate and support their activities; 5) to represent, in official or private international contexts, the Catholic standpoint concerning social work.

II. ORGANIZATION

The U.C.I.S.S. comprises two sections: that of the Schools of Social Work, which also includes the Centers for Social Training; and that of the Professional Associations of Social Workers.

It is animated by a Committee and a Presidency. The Committee consists of delegates of the full members, namely, one delegate for each school and one delegate for each group of social workers affiliated with the U.C.I.S.S.

The Presidency, or Central Office, consists of a group numbering between six and twenty persons, chosen by the Committee from among its members: one half represents the schools, and the other half the groups of social workers. The Central Office appoints a president, a general secretary and, where appropriate, 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 of the Central Office are entrusted to a secretary under the responsibility of the general secretary, who may take on assistants. At meetings of the Committee and at congresses, only delegates of the full members have the right to vote.

III. MEMBERS

They are divided into full and associate members, in addition to individual members. The full members are: 1) Catholic social schools, that is, schools which, through theoretical and practical courses lasting at least one year and concluding with an examination, provide those attending them with technical and moral training, with the aim of preparing them for social service and social action (schools for women, men, or both, university-level or otherwise); 2) groups of social workers, that is, associations with statutes which bring together as full members Catholic social workers who have graduated from a school of social service. The associate members are: 1) schools of social service, founded recently and which have not yet trained graduating candidates; 2) social training centres or temporary courses in social service, which do not train social-service agents, but prepare people for these studies or train simple activists in Christian social action; 3) groups of social workers in the initial stage. The individual members are: A. 1) the directors of Schools of social service who, for one reason or another, cannot belong to the U.C.I.S.S.; 2) the Catholic members of the Committee and of the teaching staff of Schools of social service, whether or not they are full or associate members; B. 1) Catholic social workers, male or female, graduates of countries that do not yet have a Catholic professional association or who, for one reason or another, are not represented by full or associate members; 2) Catholic expert social workers; C. any qualified expert. The U.C.I.S.S. currently brings together 89 Schools of Social Service and social training centres, and 28 Associations of social workers from 27 countries on all continents. Twelve schools, social training centres, and associations are corresponding with the secretary in order to obtain affiliation. This would bring the number of U.C.I.S.S. members to approximately 130, not counting the individual members.

IV. CONGRESSES AND ACTIVITIES

The Secretariat of Women’s Christian Social Works of Belgium, established in Brussels, after founding two Schools of Social Service as early as 1920, recognized in 1925 the need to establish a bond among the Schools of Social Service existing in the various countries. The project was received with enthusiasm at the Congress of Milan in 1925; 25 schools gave their adherence. The international conferences followed one another rapidly: Brussels 1926; Aix-La-Chapelle 1927; Paris 1929. Committee meetings, study days, and promotional meetings took place between the Congresses. In 1935, the tenth year of the existence of the U.C.I.S.S., a major Congress was held in Brussels, bringing together 650 delegates 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 Congress as a whole: to promote a social service which, through its constructive technique, would tend toward the establishment of the Christian social order.

The world war interrupted the international meetings. As early as 1946, the Secretariat of the U.C.I.S.S. organized a new international gathering in Brussels: 30 schools and 12 groups responded to the appeal to examine together, among other matters, a draft code of professional morality for social workers and certain forms of social service. In 1947, the sixth Congress took place in Lucerne. Five hundred people gathered there. Among other matters, they studied the International Code of Professional Morality for Social Service and the adaptation of social service to current social transformations. In 1949, international study days brought together in Nijmegen, in Holland, the delegates of the groups of social workers. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the U.C.I.S.S. (1950), during the Holy Year, was marked by an important Congress in Rome, which had the honor of receiving a letter from the Pope addressed to the general president and concluded with a solemn audience in the basilica of St. Peter (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 485–88).

In 1951, two courses of study were held for the directors and professors of the Schools of Social Service: one in Montpellier for French-speaking participants, the other in Beuron for German-speaking participants. A course of study took place in Bernried for social workers from the German-speaking countries, and another for those from the French-speaking countries in 1952, in Pau.

V. ESTENSIONE IN AMERICA E NEGLI ALTRI CONTINENTI

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 outset and progressively as the Schools were founded. 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. had also begun its work in Latin America. Three secretariats were established in Chile, Brazil, and Columbia. In July 1949, a study meeting of the U.C.I.S.S. took place in S. Paolo. The Union is seeking to expand in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

The U.C.I.S.S. maintains the best relations with international organizations that seek to preserve the Christian ideal in international life and 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 part in the Conference of Presidents of International Catholic Organizations. It was admitted in a consultative capacity (category B) to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in Aug. 1947. It collaborates with the UNESCO (v.).

VII. PUBLICATIONS, DOCUMENTATION, AND STUDY TOURS

The U.C.I.S.S. provides information to those who approach it concerning the organization of schools of social work. The quarterly journal it publishes, Servizio sociale nel mondo, is the first international forum devoted to questions of social work. It organizes periods of practical training, exchanges, and study tours in various countries for students, the staff of schools of social work, and social-work agents.