Committed Catholics
Religious Involvement in Welfare after 1945
First Edition
The construction of European welfare states after 1945 did not happen without reaction and contribution from private religious actors. Read More
Rather than leading to the disappearance of Catholic charities, these developments have led Catholic actors to adapt to a new range of methods, new needs, new audiences, and new sources of funding – as well as to new spiritual incentives and religious meanings attached to commitment.
This issue explores the new forms of Catholic social commitment in the post-war period, from the perspective of the actors involved. Through case studies from several national contexts and different sectors of healthcare, social services and education, it highlights the coexistence of a variety of actors – charities, public and private parties, lay and religious, men and women, professionals, activists and volunteers – and multiple strategies for articulating religious values in welfare work.
Addressing major transformations such as secularisation, and the professionalisation of assistance, this collection of articles complicates the binary oppositions between charity and activism, between professionals and volunteers, in order to highlight the various forms of religious commitment that flourished in Catholic welfare and contributed to the profound changes in society in the second half of the twentieth century.
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Specifications
- Publisher
- Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles
- Edited by
- Anne-Sophie Crosetti, Juliette Masquelier,
- Contributions by
- Anne-Sophie Crosetti, Felix Deckx, Carmen M. Mangion, Juliette Masquelier, Catherine Maurer, Els Minne, Amélie Rabine-Lemaitre, Yann Raison du Cleuziou,
- Journal
- Problems in Religious History | n° 30
- ISSN
- 07786735
- Language
- English
- Title First Published
- 12 February 2026
- Includes
- Bibliography
Paperback
- Product Detail
- 1
- Publication Date
- 05 February 2026
- ISBN-13
- 978-2-8004-1934-3
- Product Content
- Text (eye-readable)
- Extent
- Total numbered pages : 254
- Legal Copyright Date
- D2026/0171/3 Bruxelles, Belgium
- Code
- 1934
- ONIX XML
- Version 2.1, Version 3
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Contents
Editor's note
Jean-Philippe Schreiber
Introduction
Anne-Sophie Crosetti and Juliette Masquelier
Part I. Disputing the Status of Religion in Social Action
"Le social. Plus il est politique, moins il est évangélique"
Catholic Poverty Initiatives and the Belgian State in Brussels (1955–1985)
Els Minne
The Little-known Origins of the Popular Religion Controversy
Serge Bonnet and the Defence of Catholic Immigrant Workers in Lorraine (1960–1970s)
Yann Raison du Cleuziou
Part II. Adapting to New Frameworks and Methods
Training and Professionalisation Within a Catholic Federation of Medico-Social Works
The Caritas Federation in Alsace from 1945 to the End of the 1960s
Catherine Maurer
"Whatever you did for the least of Mine, you did for Me"
The Catholic Dealing with Hansen's Disease in Congo (1930-1980)
Felix Deckx
Engaging with Youth in Care
Itineraries of Female Professionals in Congregational Re-education Boarding Schools for Girls (France, 1960–1970)
Amélie Rabine-Lemaître
Inserted Communities and Religious Commitment in Post-Conciliar Britain, 1970s–2000s
Carmen M. Mangion
Part III. Catholics in Outreach Work
The Patroness, the Activist and the Volunteer
Three Conflicting Figures of Catholic Women's Unpaid Commitment to Infant Welfare (Belgium, 1945–2000)
Juliette Masquelier
A Pillarised Activism
Catholic Planned Parenthood Centres and the Depenalisation of Abortion (Belgium, 1970–1990)
Anne-Sophie Crosetti
List of Contributors