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No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This thesis examines the social welfare work of four Catholic Sisterhoods in Sydney in the late nineteenth century. The work of Catholic women religious is largely missing from Australian women???s history and the history of social welfare and social work in Australia. The present investigation seeks to add to knowledge of women???s agency in Australian society and to extend the knowledge of Australian social work history. The aim of the thesis is to understand what the Sisters were attempting to do in their work with the poor of Sydney and how they went about it. The emphasis is on understanding the Sisters??? work from their own perspective, particularly the values which underpinned their work and the resources and constraints which affected it. A qualitative, inductive approach is used in which the data are drawn mainly from the Sisterhoods??? narratives and other historical documents. The thesis does not aim to test particular theoretical propositions, but rather to contribute to a number of ???unfolding stories??? about the history of Australian social work, about women???s work in the public realm, and about the development of the caring professions The thesis argues that the social welfare work of four Sydney Sisterhoods had a number of characteristics which made it unusual for the time, and which constituted it as ???proto-professional???. These included the codification of the prescribed stance towards the poor, of methods of work, and a high level of expertise in administration and management. The Sisters??? approach pre-figured later social work in a number of respects including an inclusive and accepting stance, respect for the dignity of the individual, and a concern to develop individuals??? capacities and self-esteem. The professionalism of the Sisters??? work is shown to be related to features which were integral to Catholic women???s religious institutes and to their role and status in the Catholic Church of the day. The Sisters??? social welfare work did not ???evolve??? into secular, professional social work however. It is contended that reasons for this were related to developments in Australian society, the situation of the local Catholic Church and restrictions on membership of the Sisterhoods. The thesis has significance for bodies of knowledge on ???woman???s sphere??? charity in the late nineteenth century, the history of social work in Australia, and theory on the professionalisation of caring occupations.

Historically, religious congregations and other church organisations have had a long involvement in the provision of community services in English-speaking societies. Nonetheless, despite the development since the 1950's of extensive government provision, the growth of large church-sponsored agencies, and the advent of secular community services, there is reason to believe the trend for congregational involvement persists. However, there is also reason to believe that provision of services by congregations is not well understood, an issue of more significance in view of recent policy shifts, especially in the US and UK, promoting an increasing emphasis on government support for welfare service delivery by these “pervasively sectarian” groups. Within the Australian setting little is known about the contribution of local religious congregations to the provision of local community services, although limited data from the 1996 National Church Life Survey indicates in excess of 65% of congregations claim some local community involvement. (For complete abstract open document)

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Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1989. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-106).

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