Catholic Charitable Endeavour in London, 1810–1840. Part I

Abstract

The primary focus of this article centres on the two decades that form the prelude to Catholic Emancipation although reference is made to activity outside this time frame and to cities other than London. Charitable endeavour is taken to include all individual voluntary effort to sustain and support Catholic churches, schools and other Catholic organisations in need of assistance. It also relates to assistance given to individuals in need of help. Such ‘endeavour’ also encompasses group and community-based voluntary activity. While it may seem unnecessary to define charitable endeavour, Mary J. Oates in a recent study on the Catholic philanthropic tradition in America heavily circumscribes what she means by the term, and excludes a number of subjects from her examination, thus:Not all contributions to the Church are philanthropic. For example, contributions to support the local pastor, Church, and parish programs which chiefly benefit the congregation itself, do not qualify as charitable giving. Nor do gifts by individual Catholics to extra-ecclesial philanthropic causes.