1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778197203321

Autore

Brown Dorothy M (Dorothy Marie), <1932->

Titolo

The poor belong to us : Catholic charities and American welfare / / Dorothy M. Brown, Elizabeth McKeown

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Mass. : , : Harvard University Press, , 1997

ISBN

0-674-02889-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (viii, 284 pages)

Altri autori (Persone)

McKeownElizabeth

Disciplina

361.7/5/08822

Soggetti

Church work with the poor - United States - History

Church work with the poor - Catholic Church - History

Public welfare - United States - History

United States Church history 19th century

United States Church history 20th century

United States Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-200) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 The New York System -- 2 The Larger Landscape -- 3 Inside the Institutions: Foundlings, Orphans, Delinquents -- 4 Outside the Institutions: Pensions, Precaution, Prevention -- 5 Catholic Charities, the Great Depression, and the New Deal -- Conclusion -- Sources -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Between the Civil War and World War II, Catholic charities evolved from volunteer and local origins into a centralized and professionally trained workforce that played a prominent role in the development of American welfare. Dorothy Brown and Elizabeth McKeown document the extraordinary efforts of Catholic volunteers to care for Catholic families and resist Protestant and state intrusions at the local level, and they show how these initiatives provided the foundation for the development of the largest private system of social provision in the United States. It is a story tightly interwoven with local, national, and religious politics that began with the steady influx of poor Catholic immigrants into urban centers. Supported by lay organizations and by sympathetic supporters in city and state politics, religious women



operated foundling homes, orphanages, protectories, reformatories, and foster care programs for the children of the Catholic poor in New York City and in urban centers around the country. When pressure from reform campaigns challenged Catholic child care practices in the first decades of the twentieth century, Catholic charities underwent a significant transformation, coming under central diocesan control and growing increasingly reliant on the services of professional social workers. And as the Depression brought nationwide poverty and an overwhelming need for public solutions, Catholic charities faced a staggering challenge to their traditional claim to stewardship of the poor. In their compelling account, Brown and McKeown add an important dimension to our understanding of the transition from private to state social welfare.