Jubilee of the World of Volunteering

On Sunday 16 May 1999, Pope St John Paul II preached at a celebration of Mass to mark the World Meeting "Reconciliation in Charity". 

 I am very pleased today to welcome you, dear brothers and sisters, who have come in such large numbers for the Day of Charity organized by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”. I am very happy to celebrate the Eucharist with you and for you, remembering all the “witnesses of charity” who in every part of the world dedicate themselves to eliminating the injustice and poverty which unfortunately still exist in so many obvious and hidden forms. I am thinking here of the countless faces of volunteer service, of those whose work is inspired by the Gospel: religious institutes and associations of Christian charity, organizations for human development and missionary service, groups involved in the civil sphere, and organizations for social, educational and cultural work. Your activities embrace every area of human life and your actions reach countless people in trouble. I express my esteem and gratitude to each of you....

How could we fail to emphasize [the] divine source of service to our brothers and sisters? Yes, love of neighbour conforms to Christ's mandate and example only if it is joined to the love of God. Jesus who gives his life for sinners is the living sign of God's goodness; at the same time, through their generous self-giving Christians enable the brothers and sisters they meet to experience the merciful and provident love of the heavenly Father. 

 The world of volunteering has many different expressions. There can be very informal occasions for volunteering (eg the person who looks out for the needs of their neighbour and might occasionally shop for them); there are those situations where people volunteer to support a one-off kind of event (eg the Olympic Games or a World Youth Day); there are situations where an individual regularly spends time supporting a small scale initiative (eg helping on a weekly soup run in an inner city). There are also situations where an individual regularly commits a period of time within a more organisational context (eg volunteering within a formally established charity or visiting in a hospital or prison). And, in some instances, there is a kind of "professionalised" volunteering (eg by way of a placement or paid employment with a charity or non-governmental organisation). 

Whilst some will involve themselves in these activities from the kind of Christian inspiration described by Pope St John Paul II, many will do so without any specifically religious intention, and this is a feature to be borne in mind when we reflect on the world of volunteering. The United Nations, for example, marks an International Day of Charity on 5th September each year, the date chosen because it is the anniversary of the death of Mother Theresa.

The invitation to the Jubilee of the World of Volunteering, to be marked 8th-9th March 2025, reflects this variety:

Volunteers from all associations, members of non-profit organizations, NGO workers and social workers are especially invited to this jubilee event.

A Vatican News report ahead of the event can be read here: 25 000 pilgrims to gather in Rome for Jubilee of Volunteers.

There is an interesting dimension to some of these volunteering opportunities. In volunteering in a hospital, for example, or in port chaplaincy and ship visiting, the volunteer brings their religious inspiration (or at least a level of commitment to human dignity) into encounter with a professional context. In their activity, the volunteer needs to achieve a competence in the practices of the relevant professional context alongside their goodwill as a volunteer. 

A hospital volunteer needs to respect the processes of a hospital ward or department (infection prevention and control, for example), develop the skills to meet with patients experiencing different medical conditions and understand how their role exists in relation to the roles of clinical staff. A ship visitor needs to respect the security and safety requirements specific to docks and ships, and to have an understanding of the circumstances of seafarers who may spend many months of the year away from home but only a few hours in each port before sailing again. Prison visiting or industrial chaplaincy equally need a volunteer to engage with a specific professional competence.

One paragraph of the Jubilee Prayer can speak particularly to the World of Volunteering:

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the power of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.

Lourdes Magazine: March-April 2008

A day or two ago my copy of the March-April issue of Lourdes Magazine arrived. The "feature" topic in this issue is the international meeting of members of Hospitality, that took place in Lourdes 6th-9th December 2007. The Hospitality family has two parts: the diocesan/national hospitalities that accompany individual pilgrimages and the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes which provides services in the Shrine, its hostels, at the railway station and at the airport. The members of these Hospitalities are all volunteers who, paying their own way, spend some time in Lourdes helping the sick.

In recent years, the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes have put in place a four year programme of formation for their volunteers. This combines practical training in such matters as the handling of wheelchairs and simple lifting of the sick with a formation in the history and spiritual heritage of the Lourdes shrine. This formation leads up to a Hospitality member making their "commitment", the core of which is a promise to visit Lourdes each year to spend time helping the sick.

This, the second international meeting of Hospitality members, took as its theme Christian voluntary work. Reflecting the formation given to Hospitality members, the meeting reflected on how professional competence and Christian charity come together in the life and work of a Christian volunteer. Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, conducted a plenary session on the encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" and voluntary work:

"In turning towards God, new and specific elements enter into the manner in which we habitually see humanitarian aid - elements which the baptised Christian should not renounce....As the Pope says, the neighbour 'has always need of something more than technically correct care'. Beyond treatment he has need of 'humanity', 'care which ... comes from the heart.' It is necessary to be rooted in faith and attached to God in order to meet your neighbour."

Sr Veronique Margron OP is the Dean of the faculty of theology at the Universite de l'Ouest in Angers, France. A long extract from her presentation at the meeting is included in the Magazine under the title "Christian attitudes in voluntary work". The extract addresses the question of commitment, in the light of the commitment that Hospitality members make. This is a wide ranging presentation, talking about several aspects of commitment and essentially implying a certain permanence and totality to it. To give you a flavour:

"Your commitment as a volunteer assigns, commits everything you are. .... Commitment is a virtue. Volunteering lived as commitment is a virtue. This commitment generates the theological virtue of hope; fundamentally for the person herself."

This is very striking when volunteering is so often seen as something short term or temporary, a "gap year" kind of activity. Sr Veronique ended her presentation with a paragraph devoted to chastity:

"We could use just one word to qualify the proper attitude of the volunteer here in Lourdes as in any other Church service: chastity, in other words, the proper presence, the proper distance with the other, which is called benevolence and respect, which always considers the other, the person who is helped, my colleagues, as subjects of mystery and freedom - never like objects, not even objects of care or goodness. Hence the importance the whole Christian tradition gives to this beautiful word 'chastity': not as law but as an art of good living, a virtue, a way of life for each one of us and not for a few such as the religious. We are all called by Christ to live with chastity because it is the sign of the love of Christ who loved passionately without ever holding onto his friends, or those he helps, heals and feeds. It is the signature of his art of loving. Chastity is the opposite of the possession of the other. In this way, the closer we are to somebody, the more essential chastity is, like the proper way to love, which will truly do some good. This is then what I eventually invite you to do."

If you have the chance to read this issue of Lourdes Magazine, do so. It combines an attractive offering of news relating to the shrine with some substantial spiritual and theological food