Une expertise de terrain : l’expérience en travail social des prêtres et religieuses montréalais (1930-1970)

• Main Author: Amélie Bourbeau
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes (LARHRA UMR 5190) 2015-01-01
• Series: Chrétiens et Sociétés
• Subjects: Social work; Professionalization; Catholicism
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/chretienssocietes/3692

Between 1930 and 1970, in a context of reorganization of Catholic private welfare, many Montreal priests and nuns were trained as professional social workers. Through their practices and ideas, it is possible to see how they contributed to building an expertise on urban problems, based on a rational and pragmatic approach close to the principles of emerging professional social work. This expertise may be seen as a conciliation between social catholic values, traditional charity, and efforts to find rational solutions to modern life. The men and women studied thus were able to find harmony between faith and secular expertise.