Invisible Caring Hand : American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare

by Cnaan, RAM A.

• ISBN13: 9780814716175
• ISBN10: 0814716172
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

Popular calls to transform our current welfare system and supplant it with effective and inexpensive faith-based providers are gaining political support and engendering heated debate about the separation of church and state. Yet we lack concrete information from which to anticipate how such initiatives might actually work if adopted.Despite the assumption that congregations can help many needy people in our society, it remains to be seen how extensive they wish their involvement to be, or if they have the necessary tools to become significant providers in the social service arena. Moreover, how will such practices, which will move faith-based organizations towards professionalization, ultimately affect the spirit of volunteerism now prevalent in America's religious institutions?We lack sufficient knowledge about congregational life and its ability to play a key role in social service provision.The Invisible Caring Handattempts to fill that void. Based on in-depth interviews with clergy and lay leaders in 251 congregations nationwide, it reveals the many ways in which congregations are already working, beneath the radar, to care for people in need. This ground-breaking volume will provide much-sought empirical data to social scientists, religious studies scholars, and those involved in the debates over the role of faith-based organizations in faith-based services, as well as to clergy and congregation members themselves.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
John J. Dilulio, Jr.
Preface	xiii
Ram A. Cnaan
I An Overview of Congregations
Congregations in Society	3	(12)
The Historical Development of American Congregations	15	(20)
II Congregations Involvement: Empirical Findings
The Congregations in Our Study	35	(22)
Congregational Involvement I: Areas of Involvement	57	(25)
Congregational Involvement II: Characteristics of Service and Financial Value	82	(19)
Which Congregations Tend to Get Involved	101	(15)
Comparing Neighbors: Canada and the U.S.A.	116	(23)
III Congregations for Society: Additional Studies
Small-Town Congregations: The Case of Council Grove, Kansas	139	(17)
Mediating Structures: The Greater New Orleans Federation of Churches	156	(22)
Social Ministry in the Community: The Case of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church and Urban Bridges	178	(33)
IV Concluding Remarks
Volunteerism and Organized Religion	211	(23)
Why and How Congregations Get Involved in Service Delivery	234	(21)
The Congrgational Norm of Community Involvement	255	(25)
The Broader Perspective: Congregations for Society and Beyond	280	(19)
Appendix: Methodological Notes	299	(6)
Notes	305	(2)
Bibliography	307	(14)
Index	321	(8)
About the Author	329