ABSTRACT
The Catholic Church is currently an important but controversial ingredient in the Italian welfare mix. Respondents believe that the social work carried out by Catholics should not be publicized as such, but practised within a shared democratic perspective with other socially-committed citizens. This kind of criticism against the Catholic Church brings to the surface certain ongoing the social transformations and poses serious issues on both the cultural and theological planes. All respondents, including church-related actors, criticize charity-approaches which in the end prove humiliating, and claim that the manner in which social services are provided is as important as the social help itself. Promoting the participation of all male and female citizens therefore remains one of the main challenges for the welfare system. In Vicenza, and throughout Italy, citizen's groups are requesting an involvement at a local level in setting the expenses of the public administration.
