The Catholic Church in the United States includes among its institutions a vast social welfare network that has been important for countless individuals, including the Catholics who support it, the Catholics who benefit from it, and the non-Catholics who have been recipients of its services. This essay provides a narrative of that development, identifying the key characters and turning points from the eighteenth century to the present day. It explores the intersection of “American” and “Catholic”: what the church learned from the American culture around it, and what the church contributed to it through its teachings about charity and its example of putting those teachings into action.