A Review of the Catholic Social Services Australia Website

By Taryn Horwood

Catholic Social Services Australia is an organisation that is representative of the Catholic Church’s active provision of social services in Australia. They are involved in the development of social welfare policies and programs with Catholic organisations, governments and other churches to try and achieve an essentially equal and fairer Australian society, and they operate nationally to provide services to local communities in metropolitan, regional and remote Australia. The organisation’s work is concerned with promoting the core principles of Catholic Social Teaching, whereby the dignity of the person, common good and community, preferential option for the poor and rights and responsibilities are considered fundamental. This information and more detailed descriptions of the services, vision and goals of Catholic Social Services Australia are all available on the organisation’s website which, as it is frequently evident, is promoted on behalf of Catholicism’s teachings and obligation to society. This succinct approach to social issues is the most notable feature of the website, and as this review considers the website’s presentation, its affect on users and the organisation’s image as providing a religious function in social justice issues, it will be suggested that in this case the delivery of ideas regarding social justice on the behalf of religion has failed to be accompanied by any portrayal or promotion of its meaning.

To understand the context of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) and its website, it is important to establish the function, meaning and significance of its existence as a religious organisation seeking to achieve social justice. In his lecture on ‘Religion and Society’, Professor A. R. Radcliffe-Brown suggests the possible necessity of religion to the structure and machinery of society, also hypothesising that some of the effects of religion may be “socially valuable” (Radcliffe-Brown 1945). Thus religion seemingly has the potential to be perceived as socially beneficial, and perhaps intrinsically linked to social well-being. In her book Religion and Social Policy, Paula D. Nesbitt (2001) notably highlights the exposure of religious charity and community assistance in comparison to accounts of negative religious behaviour; “Several articles about activities of church organisations in promoting social policies are likely to appear on an average of every month in most daily newspapers. However, unlike the news reports on religious revivals drawing thousands and media stories of violence incited by religious leaders or clergy sexual misconduct, articles about religious bodies’ peaceful actions addressing social concerns are apt to be on a back page”. Apparently beneficial but evidently lacking attention and popularity, the cause of religious organisations promoting social justice appears to need to be ‘sold’ to the public. Nesbitt’s thoughts regarding charitable religious exposure indicates the level of public reception such organisations experience, and thus the level of promotion that should be sought for religious contribution to social justice.

The CSSA website provides a detailed account of the purpose of the organisation and is quite abundant with information. With the home page of the website predominantly displaying the organisation’s logo accompanied by eye-catching photographs of people in need, people belonging to minority groups and, in contrast, people who are smiling, it is immediately evident that CSSA is involved in helping disadvantaged and needy members of the Australian community. A small blurb beneath the display confirms this conclusion, and informs the audience that CSSA is quite significant in the implementation and representation of the Catholic Church’s assistance with social issues in Australia. Media Releases and information pertaining to Governmental relations and business news are noticeably present on the home page, and various sections of the website provide information about the organisation’s services, branches, events and numerous links to media, policy and publications. The ‘About Us’ section of the site is readily informative about the organisation’s goals and motivations, which is supported by information about Catholic Social Teaching, membership, the process for donations and links to various external websites. The overall impact of the website is evidently comprehensive, with clearly presented information that demonstrates the professionalism of the organisation. However, in light of this summary of the website’s features, it can be illustrated that the proficiency of the site is informative, but fundamentally lacking in meaning.

As described above, the website is comprehensive, informative, detailed and professional. However it appears that it is so accomplished in these qualities that any apparent passion or basic enthusiasm for the cause of CSSA is absent. The pictures on the home page of the website are a powerful graphic indication of the issues the organisation focuses on, but these pictures appear to form the entirety of the organisation’s coverage of these issues. The home page is predominantly concerned with governmental and business news, namely articles relaying information about funding and the economic climate, and as a result seems akin to the financial pages of a newspaper. It is not clear whom the Mailing List information is intended for or relevant to and as for the members’ section, the eligibility and motivation for registering is not apparent. Any form of business interest in CSSA seems adequately catered for on the website, and accessing this sort of information makes the site quite ‘user-friendly’. But this means that the site does not seem to be designed for or even welcome to the general public. It is unclear how the audience is to be affected by the information on the website, except perhaps by understanding the financial workings of the organisation, and ultimately this results in a lack of inspiration and even understanding of the significance of achieving social justice. It is clear that the organisation’s mission is based on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, but the work almost seems to be obligatory and the impact of the charitable message is absent due to a lack of explanation about Catholicism’s belief in social justice and the reasons why it is an important mission for the Catholic Church. Essentially, it is evident that CSSA is a product of Catholic Social Teaching to achieve social justice, but unfortunately the website prompts more questions that it answers; why does the Catholic Church believe in social justice? Why does it endeavour to help people in need? Why is this a significant religious mission?

The Catholic Social Services Australia website is professional, informative and intuitive to use. Unfortunately, while it displays an impressive layout and sophisticated business news, it fails to convey any meaning behind being a religious organisation attempting to provide social justice, and any inspiration for the cause is lost by a lack of explanation, encouragement and passion.


In-text References

Catholic Social Services Australia. 2008. http://catholicsocialservices.org.au/

Nesbitt, P.D. 2001. Religion and Social Policy. Maryland: Rowman Altamira.

Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. 1945. Religion and Society. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 75, no.1: 33-43.