Practica asistenţei sociale între religios şi secula [Social Work Practice between Religious and Secular]

This article discusses the practice of social work in relation to the evolution of the religious phenomenon, as well as the relevance of Christian spirituality in the context of the growing secularization of social life. The introduction offers a brief overview of the stages of development in the history of the social work profession, from its beginning to the modern professional social services (including the analysis of the religious factor in this development). The first section of the article describes some of the recent evolutions in the relationship between religion and society, starting from the premise that secularization constitutes a challenge for Christian spirituality, both at European and Romanian levels. Two subsections are included here, discussing the social mission of the church and the role of religion in social work. The second section analyzes the organization and functioning of the religious initiatives, focusing especially on religious organizations in a secular environment, in the context in which many theoreticians recognize the reliability of religious based systems. The last section presents the conclusions of the present article, with special reference to the religiously determined changes in society and the influence of the religious values on social work practice. Such values can have a significant contribution to the renewal of the moral conscience towards human beings. Christian values, in particular, are described as being capable to offer people meaning, value and dignity and, at the same time, to offer a positive contribution to the practice of professional social work.

Keywords: social work, secular society, Christianity, values