“We are neither customers nor shareholders of Netherlands Ltd but a community of people who care for one another”

What in your view are the root causes of the collapse of social care?

“It is true that as the population ages more people need care, and with too few children being born there is a shortage of care workers. But the more fundamental cause is today’s predominant perspective that people must fend for themselves. People who ask for help feel they are an unwelcome imposition. This outlook ignores that life is lived together, not in isolation, as much as it ignores that power dynamics exclude some people. There is a distinct dearth of sociological awareness.

What especially irks me about today’s care is that any mistakes made trigger a Pavlovian damage control response: liability is constantly being hemmed in by issuing more rules and introducing more bureaucracy

Caring and care are different words. Caring includes receiving and never stops. Care, on the other hand, to someone like our Prime Minister resembles a production process; there must be a yield. A great deal of money is being spent on high-tech care and expensive medication, but caring implies a great deal of repetition, and we will have to accept that many problems will not be resolved. It is better to accept there is suffering, that it won’t stop, and that it will return. This includes coming to terms with failure. At the same time society does accept that the precariat is growing: people who lack strong social networks, funds, and participation opportunities. The homeless, the elderly, addicts. Do we honestly find that less disturbing than some people no longer having access to expensive medication? What especially irks me about today’s care is that any mistakes made trigger a Pavlovian damage control response: liability is constantly being hemmed in by issuing more rules and introducing more bureaucracy, and this only costs more money. Money that could go towards helping people who are falling by the wayside. As the makers of Monty Python already knew, machines that go ping are revered.”

Researching small-scale diaconate forms

There might be an alternative. Springing from the missionary movement and nurtured by pastoral care for disadvantaged citizens, the Missionary Service Center in Tilburg (MST) was established in 1989. Inspired by humanitarian values, it provides care to the lonely, the poor, and foreign nationals, and invests in social safety, community, tradition, and education. De Groot is currently researching such small-scale forms of social support.

“I take a great interest in what happens to Christian culture in the wake of churches and traditions disappearing. Here at MST, for example, the work begun by the first generation, the fathers and sisters, is continued by theologians (including some from our own university) and volunteers. They are people whose social commitment spurs them on to act and to make a real difference to people who need help by arranging local day room shelter, working together with community teams, teaching language courses, and giving information and support. This kind of work is greatly undervalued. It also raises the question whether the approach so characteristic of Christianity will last when the second generation retires.”

The great benefit and beauty of the welfare state was that it entitled people to care. Gone were the days where the rich had a duty to help the poor, help the poor had to beg for

Charity has become the new normal

The diaconate traditionally provided help in those areas, but it became marginalized in the Netherlands as the segmentation of society ended and the welfare state took root. Well into the twentieth century, spiritual diaconate care was provided to orphanages, hospitals, and schools, but subsidies and privatization reshaped care along business lines. Today, the government defines care parameters, but an abundance of rules has made care extremely intricate. It gives De Groot cause for concern.

“The great benefit and beauty of the welfare state was that it entitled people to care. Gone were the days where the rich had a duty to help the poor, help the poor had to beg for. But what I find deeply troubling is that charity is becoming the new normal. That to me is ominous. Food banks are now lauded as institutions in their own right and the enthusiasm that greeted the opening of clothes banks is appalling. No one should have to rely on such help; everyone should receive sufficient income.

But what the government ought to do to activate communities is not pull out but encourage initiatives and infrastructure

The prevailing social dogma today is that hard work generates success. Yet there are so many circumstances that can keep people from earning more than the bare minimum. Those circumstances include political decisions and the leverage labor unions can exert – in other words, power dynamics. Successive administrations launched such expressions as responsible society, self-reliance, and civic participation. But what the government ought to do to activate communities is not pull out but encourage initiatives and infrastructure. We are neither the customers nor the shareholders of The Netherlands Ltd but a community of people who care for one another. And everyone can contribute. It would be much better for civil society if bureaucracy were simplified, wages raised, and benefits fixed instead of using a complicated system of allowances and compensations. These are simply beyond many people’s grasp.”

You study groups that offer small-scale social support. Is there something we can learn from them?

“What matters is that knowledge accumulated locally through close contact with people in need of help finds its way to policymakers. Not all the misery of the world can be resolved, but we should acknowledge what goes wrong. We have essentially screened our lives from others: we don’t see them, they don’t see us. All of us being ensconced in our own bubbles, we simply don’t meet. Diaconate carers hear complicated life stories, and these needn’t always be resolved, but listening is necessary, as is meeting each other. It would be good if we were more appreciative of one another. Reach out and have a chat with people who are having a tough time of it. Let’s create a sense of community once again.

We have essentially screened our lives from others. Diaconate carers hear complicated life stories, and these needn’t always be resolved, but listening is necessary, as is meeting each other.

The MST day room is open to all and attracts visitors from many walks of life: Ukrainian language students, homeless people, alcoholics, lonely people. That day room is an expression of the Christian narrative: being sensitive to the suffering of fellow human beings, recognizing it, and embracing the ideal of justice for all. Aspiring to establish paradise on Earth is not a requirement, but a general willingness to do some good does create awareness of the suffering of others, of our own shortcomings, and of the inherent capacity for goodness in people. Together we form a community and we depend on each other. We are connected and contributing to that community can be every bit as individual as it can be collective. That is not charity, because next time it could be you who needs help.”