This volume examines the role of faith-based organizations in providing social support within secular welfare states, with a particular focus on Western Catholic-majority countries. Drawing from historical and contemporary perspectives, the book explores the tensions and synergies between religiously inspired solidarity practices and secular welfare regimes. By addressing these dynamics through an interdisciplinary lens, the volume offers fresh insights into how religious solidarity adapts and persists in post-secular, ethnically and culturally diverse, and crisis-affected societies.

Bert De Munck is a full Professor at the History Department at the University of Antwerp.

Patrick Loobuyck is a full professor of religious studies, ethics, and philosophy at the Centre Pieter Gillis of the University of Antwerp.

Stijn Oosterlynck is a full professor of urban sociology at the University of Antwerp. He is a co-editor of The City as Global Political Actor (2019) and Local Social Innovation to Combat Poverty and Exclusion (2019).