Letter: The Church Cannot Replace Our Shared Welfare System

A single mother sat across from Stina Patetsos and said she could no longer cope with the finances, loneliness, daily demands and pressure to remain strong for her children. She had asked for help, but because her children still had food, clean clothes and attended school, her situation was not considered serious enough.

Patetsos, a deacon in the Church of Sweden, asks when people in Sweden receive support. She says she increasingly meets people who work but still cannot make their money last. Single parents come to the Church for grocery bags, children’s clothes or help paying an electricity bill. They are not living beyond their means, she writes. Their calculations simply no longer add up.

She also meets pensioners who worked throughout their lives but now need help buying food and paying bills. They did what society expected of them, yet their income is still insufficient. Patetsos says loneliness worries her most, particularly among single parents who lack someone to collect their children, lend them money or stand beside them when life collapses.

Public debate often focuses on benefits, costs and incentives, she writes, while paying less attention to what happens when people repeatedly hear that they are not sick, poor or desperate enough to qualify for help. The Church will continue to support people in need, but Patetsos insists it cannot take the place of the welfare state. The people she meets are parents at school meetings, pensioners in checkout lines and neighbours who have done what was expected, yet still cannot make ends meet.

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The Church cannot replace the welfare state.