Catholic Charities

A century-old faith-based organization founded in the United States of America, Catholic Charities provides social services to vulnerable and marginalized people.

Until the 20th century, Catholic charitable efforts had been undertaken exclusively at the local level through parish-based, person-to-person initiatives performed by volunteers. With the advent of nationalization and professionalization of social services in the United States, many Catholics feared that Catholic charitable work would be stripped of its spiritual significance, no longer undertaken out of love of neighbor, as commanded by Jesus. Critics feared that a National Conference of Catholic Charities (NCCC) would lead people to view charity as a remunerated task undertaken only by professionals, thus relieving the nonprofessional of the obligation to help those in need.

This more traditional view of charity did not ...