This coming Sunday will be Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, marking the start of Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum beginning with Holy Thursday's Mass of the Lord's Supper. At this mass the Gospel reading is NOT about how Jesus took bread and wine but rather how he washed the feet of the disciples, an act which has been instituted into our liturgy of the day with a rite called in Latin, "Mandatum" meaning command or mandate: "If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet… Love one another as I have loved you."
We know, of course, that what Jesus wants is not for us merely to mimic the act of foot washing but to take on the attitude or mindset of a lowly servant.
When there are options, the particular words we choose to name groups of people reflect our mindset, our attitudes, our preferences and, often, our prejudices. In turn, as these words are used in regular conversation, this repeated use tends to confirm us in that mindset. We are all aware of the range of words that run the spectrum from loving to unloving and pejorative with regard to people who are different from us, whether in race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, creed, gender, social class, politics, or physical or mental development. I sincerely believe that Vincentians are generally loving people and would never deliberately use pejorative words.
With this as background and context, let us look at that very commonly used word, "client". I am not suggesting that the word "client" is a bad word. In the right context it is a perfectly good word. Everybody in every registered charity in our country knows who you are referring to when we speak of our clients, and charitable organisations are constituted solely for the benefit of their clients. This includes the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as a registered charitable organisation.
Referring to people as clients is a professional technique used in social work agencies to help workers keep an emotional arm's length in what would otherwise be an emotionally draining profession. At the end of the day social workers have to be able to leave their work at work and go home to their families. They are taught to do this as part of their training.
And yet, interestingly, the word "client" does not occur even once in The Rule and Statutes, the document which lays out the why's and how's of the fundamental Vincentian mission of serving, protecting and speaking for the poor. I have also observed that on Internet pages, and in newsletters and emails from members of higher councils, there is no mention of the word "client". Where we would often use the word "client" I find those Vincentians speaking of "the people we serve" or "our neighbours in need".
The two different ways of referring to the people we serve reflect two different mindsets. Neither mindset is 'bad', but they are different and for good reason. There are times when it is appropriate for us to speak about our "clients", as when we communicate with the CRA or workers from other welfare agencies. But among ourselves, let us follow the example of other Vincentians and try to avoid the word "client", and use words and phrases more in keeping with Christ's "Mandatum" and our Vincentian spirit of charitable service. Hopefully this can help us take on and consolidate a more loving and respectful mindset, one that helps us understand what St. Vincent de Paul meant when he said, "The poor are our masters."