| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

A Public Charity: Religion and Social Welfare in Indianapolis, 1929–2002. By Mary L. Mapes. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. xii, 173 pp. $37.50, ISBN 0-253-34480-8.)
The domestic policies of the Bush administration refocused attention on the role of religious organizations in U.S. social welfare. Mary L. Mapes's monograph illuminates this critical issue by examing the relationship between religion and organized social welfare in Indianapolis during the twentieth century. By placing this relationship in a national context, she challenges the basic assumptions of many current policy initiatives.	1
Despite its common theme, A Public Charity reads more like a collection of essays on distinct, if related, topics with some uneven results. The chapter "Catholic Charities and the Making of the Welfare State" heightens our understanding of the peculiar patchwork of U.S. social services by explaining how and why "Catholic social workers embraced both religion and professional [that is, scientific] social work methods" (p. 21). Mapes argues that Catholic leaders supported New Deal reforms while asserting "that only Catholics could provide proper social work to other Catholics" (p. 22). This led to the provision of extensive federal aid to Catholic Charities while maintaining long-standing religious boundaries in such cities as Indianapolis. Mapes reveals that Protestant welfare officials eagerly collaborated with Catholics to preserve this separation and its prevailing hierarchies.	. . .

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