Catholic men's social service
The Social Service of Catholic Men (actually: SKM - Catholic Association for Social Services in Germany) is a professional association in the German Caritas Association, a charitable organization of the Roman Catholic Church .
founding
The organization was founded in Essen in 1912 as a Catholic men's welfare association . Last but not least, the ideas of Agnes Neuhaus , who founded the Good Shepherd Association as a Catholic welfare organization for girls and women, later the social service for Catholic women , were fundamental . Up until the founding, Vinzenzvereine in the larger German cities had taken care of the "care of endangered and neglected youths and boys", who joined the new association from 1901.
By the beginning of the National Socialist era , the organization had grown to 200 local groups, but had to be almost completely rebuilt as a result of National Socialist social policy and the effects of the war after the Second World War . The office of the federal association was initially located at the association's headquarters in Düsseldorf , then later in Paderborn and finally in Cologne . In 1962 the name was changed to “Social Service of Catholic Men” (SKM), and in 1991 the name of the association was changed to “SKM - Catholic Association for Social Services in Germany - Bundesverband eV”.
Integration and structuring
The SKM is a member of the Catholic Association for Social Services in Germany eV , a professional association of the Caritas Association. As a church-charitable professional organization, the SKM relies on the internal church structures and close cooperation with the parishes.
Today the association has more than 300 advice centers, local and district associations and Vinzenz conferences . These are organized at the level of the Catholic dioceses in diocesan associations and working groups, which in turn belong to the federal association. The SKM is a member of the German Caritas Association.
The cooperation of volunteers is a mainstay of the SKM. Together with the full-time employees, they form a collegial service community.
tasks
The SKM is involved, among other things, in social work in the field of homeless help, help for addicts , legal care , support for criminal and released prisoners, childcare and family support, youth welfare , integration support , debt counseling , unemployment counseling , homeless work, local information boards , elderly care and in social psychiatric centers (SPZ).
literature
- Franz Matscha: Zobl, Otto , in: Hugo Maier (Ed.): Who is who of social work . Freiburg: Lambertus, 1998 ISBN 3-7841-1036-3 , pp. 663f.