M.Gi/ l ®jje Rational Catijolic ££>d)ool of foetal g>erbtce 2400 J^meteentt) Street, W. ^agfjington, 25. C Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/nationalcatholicOOnati The Spirit of the National Catholic School of Social Service “The Catholic vision of life is wide. Our country’s need of that vision is profound. We bring the best in motive, the best in consecration, the best in inspiration that the world knows, for we have these things in God and from His Christ. We owe it to our poor and to our country, as a whole, to bring the best in training, the best in experience, the best in preparation for Social Service. The National Catholic School of Social Service is an humble beginning to bring these two best together in the service of humanity. . . . When the National Council of Catholic Women shall have made it stable and shall have discovered the means to complete its organization and widen its work, one may say without fear of contradiction that this will be the greatest single contribution of the Catholic women of the nation to the resources of Catholic life.” National Catholic School of Social Service ALLED INTO BEING to meet an emergency of the World War, the National Catholic School of Social Service continues in existence to fulfill obligations and to improve opportunities created by the social and economic evolution now in progress in America. Of the two demands made upon the School—that of international war and that of the changing order of industry and society—the latter is by a great deal more important and imperative. The Church will have to cooperate with the country in meeting the problems which the new conditions are begetting. There is now, and there will be for an indefinite period hereafter, the need for Catholic women grounded in Catholic principles and trained in Catholic ways for the high vocation of social service ; for the tasks of guiding, re-orienting, rehabilitating the victims of the social and economic rearrangement everywhere apparent. Undoubtedly the N. C. S. of S. S. will be one of the agencies which the Church will utilize in her endeavors for the national well-being. If the Church looks to the School for such service in behalf of the Catholic body and of the whole population, then surely the School may in its turn look to the members of the Church for moral and material support. Whether the School shall deserve such support as it needs and seeks for the future must be determined by the extent and value of its accomplishments in the past. It is with the purpose of recounting some of the School’s accomplishments in the last fourteen years in order to justify its claims to Catholic coopera- tion hereafter that this little brochure has been prepared. Let us then have the story in brief ! The Call—and the Response On November 25, 1918, an emergency school was opened in Washington, D. C., under the auspices of the National Catholic 3 War Council. Beginning with six weeks of intensive training, in order to fill the crying need, the period was extended to three and, finally, to six months. Between 1918 and 1921, two hundred and ninety young women were trained in this school. They served abroad in post-war work in France and Belgium. They served at home in Hostess Houses in the Camps and Community Houses in many cities. The N. C. W. C. Units received high commendation from the War Department for conduct and service. Widespread and insistent demands for Catholic trained social workers increased in the reconstruction period after the war. Except for lecture courses at Fordham, New York, and Loyola, Chicago, no opportunity was available for suitable candidates to obtain professional training under Catholic auspices. This fact suggested such reorganization of the emergency school at Washington as would rank it with the best non-Catholic schools for social service training in the United States. Accordingly in 1920, a permanent body—the National Catholic Welfare Conference—was set up to succeed to the National Catholic War Council. A federation of Catholic women’s or- ganizations was established as a department of the Conference to be known as the National Council of Catholic Women. The National Catholic War Council still had $150,000 of the funds accruing from the National War Fund Drive in which it had participated. This amount was turned over to the National Council of Catholic Women, who contracted with the National Catholic War Council to maintain the Social Service School for five years. Home Acquired in Washington The property at 2400 Nineteenth Street, in Washington, D. C., was purchased in 1921. In October the same year, the School opened as a resident school offering a course of two years’ train- ing. It drew on the Catholic University of America for a large number of its faculty, other courses being carried by resident instructors and other specialists. In 1923 the Social Service School was affiliated with the Catholic University, and enjoys now the special privilege of being an integral part of the Gradu- ate School of that great institution. The University grants the M.A. degree to those students who complete satisfactorily the two years’ course at the School and fulfill the requirements of the University. The medical lectures necessary for the School’s course in 4 Hospital Social Service are given by faculty members of the Georgetown University School of Medicine. The business management of the School is vested in a self- perpetuating Board of Trustees, a majority of whose members are chosen from the National Council of Catholic Women. This board counts in its present membership three bishops, among them the rector of the Catholic University, and priests and lay- men prominent as educators and business men. The President of the board is the General Secretary of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. High Academic Standards Maintained The National Catholic School of Social Service is exclusively graduate in character. No student who has not completed four years of college work and received a Bachelor’s degree is ad- mitted to its courses. This policy insures a student body of uniform capacity and renders it possible to maintain instruction and research standards above the graduate level. It is a dis- tinction of the School that it is the only residence school for social service training in the country. This arrangement se- cures to the student body experience in community living and social adjustment; provides continuous opportunity for spiritual culture, and begets an esprit de corps , which endures in its Alumnae Association. For the last eleven years the National Catholic School of Social Service has been a member of the American Association of Schools of Professional Social Work. This Association was formed in 1919. Graduates of the N. C. S. S. S. are ipso facto eligible for membership in the American Association of Social Workers. Students Serve in Many Lands The number of students trained by the National Catholic School of Social Service from 1921 to June, 1934, is 284. They are engaged in every type of social work in the United States, and its insular possessions, and in France, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, China, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and Australia. For women from each of these distant lands have come to the School for training. Fifty-four students were enrolled during the year 1933-1934. Of these, forty-four were resident, three non-resident, and seven special students. They came from twenty different States, and one each from China, Puerto Rico, Australia, and the Philippine 5 Islands. Forty-two colleges are represented in this enrollment — twenty-four State universities and secular colleges and eighteen Catholic colleges. One student—a Sister—held a Doctor's de- gree, and one lay student held an M.A. degree. All the others had the required Bachelor’s degree. Former Students in Federal Service More than forty former students of the School are at work with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the majority in supervisory positions. Following the survey and reorganization of relief agencies in Baltimore preliminary to their recognition as activities entitled to administer Federal aid, nine former students were employed by the Baltimore Federal Relief. They were assigned as super- visors of volunteer workers in a congested district. One alumna was appointed as field secretary and several others as district supervisors. A member of the faculty, by special request of the Archbishop of Baltimore, aided in making the survey prelimi- nary to the formation of the staff. Recognition of the need for at least elementary preparation on the part of the many workers employed by the Federal Relief Administration of the District of Columbia brought to the School a request that it provide an extension course on “Introduction to Family Case Work.” This request came from the executive secretary of the Washington Council of Social Agencies and the Director of Emergency Federal Relief. The School, of course, complied with the request. More than two hundred persons registered for the course of twelve lectures given by three members of the School faculty in the Auditorium of the School. The majority of these were employed by the Emergency Unemployment Relief in investi- gation work. Most of them had college training. About one- third were colored men and women. Many Calls for Workers Numerous requests for trained workers are received by the School from all parts of the United States and from foreign countries. Almost invariably these requests include the stipula- tion that the worker be a graduate of the School. All the stu- dents who left the School in June, 1933, whether with one or two years’ training, were absorbed immediately by the agencies needing trained service, and those leaving the School at the 6 close of the School year in June, 1934, were fewer than the positions awaiting such trained workers. Many capable young women with the will to serve in this profession are unable to finance a further period of professional training. The depression has accentuated this situation while, at the same time, increasing the need for trained social workers. This need is particularly acute in the Catholic field. Requests from Catholic agencies emphasize the dearth of experienced persons for executive positions. Trained Leaders Needed The necessity for a Catholic School of Social Service, main- taining the highest academic standards, resolves itself into the necessity for trained leaders. Needless to say, Catholic social service is based on an utterly different philosophy from that of the secular or non-Catholic school. The Catholic social service school regards social service as Christianity put into practice. It aims to train students to carry the teachings of Christ and His Church into the homes of the under-privileged, into hos- pitals, and dispensaries, into psychiatric clinics and child-placing agencies. Obviously, the secular or non-Catholic school has no such objectives. Not infrequently, the purposes of the secular and non-Catholic schools are in direct conflict with Catholic teaching and morality. Representatives of the non-Catholic social service agencies who attend the annual commencement exercises of the National Catholic School of Social Service each year, are invariably im- pressed by the spiritual note dominant throughout the exercises and remark that social work can never succeed unless it is put on a spiritual basis. The Catholic School for Social Service training and the Catholic trained social service worker have an unparalleled opportunity of apostolate in the bewildered and distressed condition of the world today. The End—and the Means No graduate school is supported by student fees! Every graduate school must have an adequate endowment fund on which to operate, or a maintenance fund with which to carry on. To begin with, every college graduate entering a professional school sacrifices two years of potential earning capacity while in training. The college graduate who takes the training for social service must, moreover, be willing to forego the larger 7 salaries offered in fields other than social service. For example, a candidate for admission to the National Catholic School of Social Service actually relinquished a salary of $150 a month, fully conscious that after two years of training she must enter her chosen field of social service at a salary of from $90 to $100 a month. The willingness to make such sacrifices is one of the determining factors in the admission of candidates to this School. But to meet the need, sacrifices cannot be on one side only. There must be some parity of unselfishness between the student who desires to serve the poor, the sick, the delinquent, the unfor- tunate family or the unfortunate child and the School which is qualified to equip her to render a truly capable Christian service. The National Catholic School of Social Service, therefore, has always met the student half way—more than half way, having in view the great Catholic and social need to be met. This policy, of course, cannot be sustained without the under- standing cooperation of Catholics and others who sense the enormous need for trained social service rooted in the spiritual teachings of Christ. And such cooperation must be increased to supply the increased demand! Present Endowment Inadequate From the beginning the necessity for an endowment was recognized and the National Council of Catholic Women, in a quiet way, without any public drive, undertook the accumula- tion of such a fund. General economic conditions during the past four years have made it necessary to halt any organized effort to increase the endowment. The endowment necessary to maintain the School would be $1,000,000. At present our endowment is but $145,556.50—some $850,000 too little! Twenty thousand of the present endowment represents a foundation of $100,000 to be accumulated through a two cents a month per capita tax of the Daughters of Isabella, to extend over a period of five years. There is credited to the Endowment Fund $71,653.32 in the form of scholarships and fellowships, completed and incom- pleted. A scholarship is $10,000 invested so that the interest it yields goes to the maintenance of a student for the two years’ course at the School. A scholarship does not meet the full cost of the student’s board and tuition. The School must supplement from its maintenance fund to defray the additional tuition or living costs. 8 A fellowship is the sum of $20,000 the interest on which will meet the entire tuition and living costs of one student for two years. Up to date there are no completed fellowships. These scholarships and fellowships are donated by interested groups and individuals. An addition of $11,679.00 has been added to the Endowment Fund toward the maintenance of a Chair at the School. The purpose is to accumulate a fund sufficient to carry the salary of a member of the faculty. Rockefeller Grant Withdrawn One early source of support is diminishing and will soon dis- appear. In 1924 a grant was obtained from the Laura Spellman Rockefeller Fund to assist in extending the curriculum of a school having a spiritual ideal in social service. From 1924 to 1932 the School received $15,000 a year. However, since the Laura Spellman Rockefeller Fund was merged with the Rocke- feller Foundation, which is devoted entirely to research work, the School is no longer eligible for this grant. In order not to embarrass the program of the School, the amount has been reduced annually instead of being withdrawn at once. The Rockefeller grant has been of invaluable assistance. Its withdrawal imposes the obligation—and the difficulty—of seek- ing a Catholic donor or donors equally generous to substitute for its loss. The sum of $5,000 to be given for the coming School year will be its last installment from the Rockefeller Fund. Through the generosity of individuals and organizations, four Annual Scholarships are available to applicants who meet the conditions specified by the donors and qualify in a competitive examination. These competitive examinations bring to light many more qualified candidates than the School has the means to accept, for, as in the case of Endowed Scholarships, these Annual Scholarships do not meet the full costs of board and tuition. The School must supplement them from its Maintenance Fund. To supply more adequately the pressing demand for trained Catholic workers, the School initiated in 1930 Loan Scholar- ships. By means of full-time and part-time loans to qualified applicants who are not able to finance their training period, the School has undoubtedly, in the midst of an emergency, made a contribution which equals, if it does not exceed, that of any other educational institution. 9 Loans Made and Repaid Full-time scholarships represent a loan of $500 a year and part-time scholarships a loan of $250 or less a year. Students accepting these loans agree to repay the loan at the rate of 5 percent a year of the salary they are receiving after six months of employment. The record is as follows: Year Full-time Part-time Scholarships Scholarships1930- 1931..., 4 1931- 1932 4 1932- 1933 15 Amount of loans . . . Repayments to date 4 3 $11,500 3,287 Two loans have been repaid in full. While repayments have not been as rapid as the stated agreements stipulate, the general average warrants the belief that the School will be fully reim- bursed ultimately. In the year 1933-1934 twenty-three Loan Scholarships were granted. Eighteen were full-time and five part-time loans. No payments can be expected on these loans for six months from June, 1934. The School has received from forty to fifty applications for Loan Scholarships for the current school year. These have come from qualified college graduates, who fill every requirement for prospective social workers. Evidently there is an available and willing supply of Catholic young women to meet the demand for Catholic trained social workers. Difficulties in the Path Serious problems must now be faced by those in charge of the Service School. They look with confidence to generous Catholics for help in turning these problems into achievements. 1. The School needs $40,000 with which to meet the exigencies of the coming year. 2. The bank requires a $10,000 curtailment of the mortgage. 10 Incidently, this will help to reduce the interest at 5V& percent to be met annually on the $150,000 mortgage. 3. Thirty thousand dollars must be added to the income of the School to carry on the present program of service in train- ing Catholic workers who desire a preparation inspired by and consonant with Catholic ideals. Considering the tremendous amount of relief still to be dis- pensed; the innumerable organizations dispensing charity and reconstructing broken homes, they must be competently staffed ; the absolute dependence of all charity and relief work upon trained people who will render the best and most far-reaching service, the training of Catholic young women for these tasks becomes of immediate and paramount importance. Effective dispensation of relief and charity—by the Federal Government, by the States, by local communities, and whether through public or private agencies—can be assured only by the employment of men and women trained for the task—yes, the vocation. This is pre-eminently a service requiring Christian conscience, discipline, training. It is therefore precisely the work for which the Service School prepares its students and in precisely the manner in which they should be trained. Here, then, is a new opportunity—amounting to an obliga- tion—presented to the N. C. S. of S. S. Will you who have read this story of the School share in the privilege of grasping this opportunity, discharging this obliga- tion in the name and for the credit of the Church in America? 11