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Remaining emotionally uninvolved and seeking the “right distance” are unavoidable references when training social workers, to the point where they are considered professional fundamentals. In using this article to examine social care establishments with religious ties (Catholicism for Apprentis d’Auteuil and Judaism for Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants or OSE), we will see that there are places that focus on emotions in socio-educational relationships in a positive way. Likewise, we will question the influence of religion in the relationships they maintain with those in care. This article examines the friction between vocation and professionalism, but also the place of emotions in social-educational work. Alternating between the compassionate aspects and the use of religion, both structures establish a specific way of looking at educational relationships and the areas that professionalism must cover beyond its “civil servant” dimension.