10
The Catholic University of America
<School of Theology and Religious Studies>
TRS 728I Laity in American Catholic Life
Spring 2009
Credit Hours: 3
Classroom: Caldwell 429
Class meeting: Mon - 12:10 – 2:40 p.m.
Instructor/ contact information:
Joseph M. White, visiting associate professor
405 Caldwell Hall
Phone: 202-319-6508 (office), 317-440-3229 (cell)
Office Hours: Tues-Thurs: 2:00-3:15 p.m.
Email:
Course Description:
Case studies of men and women activists, lay organizations, and movements with an emphasis on social thought, social action, and the evolution of lay self-understanding in the context of the development of public Catholicism ca. 1800-1950.
Instructional Methods
As a reading course, the students have two assigned books and several major articles to read. For some class meetings, students select an article to read or one is assigned. A separate bibliography of titles is provided from which to select readings. After the instructor’s overview presentation of the week’s topic based on key works or themes in that topic, the students share the results of their reading in a guided discussion. For the two books of their choice, the students provide written reflections to be shared in class. For some articles a written report may be required. The 15- to 20-page synthesis paper on a topic selected by the student will be presented in a class meeting.
Required Texts
James M. O’Toole, Faithful: A History of Catholics in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.
James M. O’Toole, editor, Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in Twentieth-Century America (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
Additional Book Assignments
In addition to the reading of the required texts, the student will select two additional works to read, write a 5-page paper summarizing and reviewing the book to be shared in a class meeting.
For First Book Assignment:
Jeffrey M. Burns, Disturbing the Peace: A History of the Christian Family Movement, 1949-1974 (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999).
Cyprian Davis, The History of Black Catholics in the United States (New York: Crossroad, 1990).
Jay P. Dolan, In Search of An American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in Tension (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Alfred J. Ede, The Lay Crusade for a Christian America: A Study of the American Federation of Catholic Societies, 1900-1919 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1988).
James T. Fisher, The Catholic Counterculture in America, 1933-1962 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1989).
Kane, Paula M. Separation and Subculture: Boston Catholicism, 1900-1920. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
Kauffman, Christopher J. Faith and Fraternalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
James J. Kenneally, The History of American Catholic Women (New York: Crossroad, 1990).
Anthony J. Kuzniewski, S.J., Faith and Fatherland: The Polish Church War in
Wisconsin, 1896-1918. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994.
Mark S. Massa, S.J., Catholics and American Culture: Fulton Sheen, Dorothy Day, and the Notre Dame Football Team (New York: Crossroad, 1999).
Mark S. Massa, S.J., Anti-Catholicism in America: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (New York: Crossroad, 2003).
Lawrence J. McCaffrey, The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1997).
Deirdre Moloney, American Catholic Lay Groups and Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Orsi, Robert A. Thank You, St. Jude: Women’s Devotion to the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
Robert A. Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985).
Joseph J. Parot, Polish Catholics in Chicago, 1859-1920: A Religious History (DeKalb, Ill.: Northern Illinois University Press, 1981).
Leslie Woodcock Tentler, Catholics and Contraception: An American History (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
For Second Book Assignment:
Jerome P. Baggett, Sense of Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
William D’Antonio and Anthony Pogorelc, Voices of the Faithful: Loyal Catholics Striving for Change (New York: Crossroad, 2007)
David Gibson, The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping A New American Catholicism (San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 2003).
Andrew Greeley, The Catholic Imagination (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000).
Andrew Greeley, The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004
Paul Lakeland, The Liberation of the Laity: In Search of an Accountable Church (New York: Continuum, 2003).
Russell Shaw, Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church (Requiem Press, 2005).
Russell Shaw, Nothing To Hide: Secrecy, Communication, and Communion in the Catholic Church (Ignatius Press, 2008).
Peter Steinfels, A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003).
George B. Wilson, S.J., Clericalism: The Death of Priesthood (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2008.
Recommended Texts
A general history of the U.S. Catholic experience provides useful background information about the issues, events, and personalities related to social thought and reform. Several contemporary scholars narrate the story into the post-2000 era.
Patrick W. Carey, Catholics in America: A History. New York: Sheed and Ward, 2008 updates his Roman Catholics in America. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.
James T. Fisher, Communion of Immigrants: A History of Catholics in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
The works above have been influenced by two classic works still useful:
James Hennesey, S.J., American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Jay P. Dolan, The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985.
Two recent works relating U.S. Catholic experiences and areas of American culture that are highly recommended:
Mark Massa, Anti-Catholicism in America: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (New York: Crossroad, 2003).
John T. McGreevy, Catholicism and American Freedom: A History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.
Course Goals
The purposes or goals of the course are:
1. To explore the history of the Catholic laity in the contexts of Church and society from colonial era to the present with attention to periodization.
2. To discern changing roles and possibilities for Catholic laity in the light of
United States and Catholic contexts.
3. To explore lay religious and social behaviors in the light of ethnic identity and
social, economic, and gender dimensions.
. 4. To examine the views and influence of several important lay Catholic leaders and
activists.
Goals for Student Learning
At the conclusion of the course, the student will be able
1. To articulate the role of the laity in each era of U.S. Catholic history.
2. To identify the views on leading Catholic lay leaders at several stages of U.S.
3. To assess in the light of history Catholic movements for lay participation in
the recent past.
Course Requirements
Written Assignments:
1. A seven- to ten-page paper on each of the books.
2. A 15- to 20-page synthesis paper on any topic related to U.S. Catholic laity. This is not a research paper requiring extensive use of primary sources. Due on the last day of class.
Expectations and policies
Students are expected to attend all classes and to participate fully. If an absence is expected, the student should contact the instructor before class preferably by email. The student will then need to obtain any and all assignment, notes, and materials of the missed class. Excessive absences may result in loss of credit for the course. Missing more than 20% of class meetings will result in failure in the course.
The assigned readings should be done in advance of class meetings since they relate to the lectures and so that they can be discussed. Most class meetings will consist of the instructor’s overview lectures and discussion of readings. To give a more visual impression of history, videos will occasionally supplement the class lecture and discussion.
For the synthesis or research paper and two written assignments on books, in addition to the quality of their content, the student needs to be attentive to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so forth. For consistency of format, the student may use standard style manuals such as Turabian or the University of Chicago.
Academic Honesty
Cheating and plagiarism are not tolerated. Refer to your student handbook concerning the consequences of plagiarism. If you use, any words, ideas, images, etc., directly or indirectly, that are not your own, you need to note them. For the university’s policies consult http://policies.cua.edu/academicundergrad/integrityprocedures.cfm): “The presumed sanction for undergraduate students for academic dishonesty will be failure for the course. There may be circumstances, however, where, perhaps because of an undergraduate student’s past record, a more serious sanction, such as suspension or expulsion, would be appropriate.”
Assessment
Grading is based on: Synthesis/ Research paper: 50%, two book review-reflection papers, 20% each, and class participation 10%.
The grading scale for the course is: A = 93-100% for outstanding achievement; A- = 90-92%; for excellent achievement; B+ = 87-89% for very good work; B = 83-86% for good work; B- = 80-82% for marginal work. For unsatisfactory work that demonstrates incomplete or inadequate understanding: C+ = 77-79%; C = 73-76%; C- = 70-72%; D+ = 67-69; D = 63-66%; D- 60-62%; F = below 60%.
Course Schedule
Jan 12 Introduction to Course: Dimensions of the course, Origins of
U.S. Catholic life.
Jan 19 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday – no class
Jan 26 Colonial Era: Spanish, French, and English Experiences
O’Toole, The Faithful, 11-49
Robert E. Wright, OMI, “The Hispanic Church in Texas under Spain and
Mexico,” U.S. Catholic Historian 20 (Fall 2002): 15-34.
John D. Krugler, “Lord Baltimore, Roman Catholics, and Toleration:
Religious Policy in Maryland during the Early Catholic Years, 1634-1649,” Catholic Historical Review 65 (January 1979): 21-43.
Michael S. Carter, “‘Under the Benign Sun of Tolerance’: Mathew Carey,
the Douai Bible, and Catholic Print Culture, 1789-1791,” Journal of the
Early Republic 27 (Fall 2007): 437-469.
Tricia T. Pyne, “Ritual and Practice in the Maryland Catholic Community,
1634-1776,” U.S. Catholic Historian, 26 (Spring 2008): 17-46.
Feb 2 Bishops John Carroll and John England in Era of Trusteeism
O’Toole, The Faithful, 50-94.
James Hennesey, “An Eighteenth Century Bishop: John Carroll of Baltimore,” Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 16 (1978): 171-204.
Patrick W Carey, “Republicanism Within American Catholicism, 1785-
1860,” Journal of the Early Republic 3 (1983): 413-437.
Feb 9 19th-Century Immigrant Experiences
O’Toole, The Faithful, 94-144.
Jay P. Dolan, “The Parish and the People,” “Neighborhood and Its Gods,”
and “The Catholic Ethos” (Chapters 6, 7, and 8) in American Catholic
Experience (New York: Doubleday, 1985).
Joseph M. White, “Cincinnati’s German Catholic Life: A Heritage of
Lay Participation,” U.S. Catholic Historian 12 (Summer 1994): 1-16.
Feb 16 Separatism, Schools, and Lay Opinion (Brownson & McMaster)
Thomas T. McAvoy, “The Formation of the Catholic Minority in the
United States 1820-1860,” Review of Politics 10 (1948): 13-34.
Patrick W. Carey, “A Synthetic Vision,” Chapter 8, in Orestes A. Brownson: American Religious Weathervane (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2004): 234-281.
Thomas T. McAvoy, “Public Schools vs. Catholic Schools and James McMaster,” Review of Politics 28 (January 1966): 19-40.
Feb 25 From Civil War to Early Twentieth Century (Administrative Monday
-- Monday classes meet on Wednesday)
Adele Francis Gorman, “Evolution of Catholic Lay Leadership, 1820-1920,” Historical Records and Studies 50 (1964): 130-165.
Christopher J. Kauffman, “The Knights of Columbus: Lay Activism from
the Origins Through the Great Depression,” U.S. Catholic Historian 9
Summer 1990): 261-274.
John F. Quinn, “Father Mathew’s Disciples: American Catholic Support for Temperance,” Church History 65 (December 1996): 624-640.
Mary J. Oates, “The Role of Laywomen in American Catholic
Philanthropy, 1820-1920,” U.S. Catholic Historian 9 (Summer 1990):
249-260.
Mar 2 Spring Break begins: no class
Mar 9 Americanism, World War I, and “Tribal Twenties”
Elizabeth McKeown, “The National Bishops’ Conference: An Analysis of
Its Origins,” Catholic Historical Review 66 (October 1980): 565-583.
Lynn Dumenil, “The Tribal Twenties: ‘Assimilated’ Catholics’ Response
to Anti-Catholicism,” Journal of American Ethnic History 11 (Fall 1991):
Jeanne Petit, “Organized Catholic Womanhood”: Suffrage, Citizenship
and the National Council of Catholic Women,” U.S. Catholic Historian
26 (Winter 2008): 83-100.
Douglas Slawson, “Chapter on NCWC lay organization,” in The
Foundation and First Decade of the National Catholic Welfare
Conference (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1992)
Mar 16 Catholic Action, Depression, and War
O’Toole, The Faithful, 145-198.
Debra Campbell, “The Struggle to Serve: From the Lay Apostolate to the
Ministry Explosion,” in Jay P. Dolan, R. Scott Appleby, Patricia Byrne,
and Debra Campbell, Transforming Parish Ministry: The Changing
Roles of Catholic Clergy, Laity, and Women Religious (New York:
Crossroad, 1989): 201-270.
Mar 23 Postwar Catholic Laity I
Joseph P. Chinnici, OFM, “The Catholic Community at Prayer, 1926-1976” and Paula Kane,“Marian Devotion Since 1940: Continuity or Casualty?” in James M. O’Toole, ed., Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in Twentieth-Century America.
Mar 30 Postwar Catholic Laity in Transition,
James M. O’Toole, “In the Court of Conscience: American Catholics
and Confession, 1900-1975” and Margaret M. McGuinness, “Let Us Go
to the Altar: American Catholics and the Eucharist, 1926-1976,” in James
M.O’Toole, ed., Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in
Twentieth-Century America
Apr 6 Expanding Catholic Horizons
Presentations on Second Book Assignment
O’Toole, The Faithful, 199-265
Eugene B. McCarraher, “The Saint in the Gray Flannel Suit: The
Professional-Managerial Class, ‘The Layman,’ and American-Catholic-
Religious Culture, 1945-1965,” U.S. Catholic Historian 15 (Summer
1997): 99-118.
Leslie Woodcock Tentler, “The Church’s First Duty Is Charity: The
‘People of God’ in a Time of Upheaval, 1962—July 1968,” in Catholics
and Contraception: An American History, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 2004).
Gina Marie Pitti, “The Sociedades Guadalupanas in the San Francisco