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American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States
Written by one of the foremost historians of American Catholicism, this book presents a comprehensive history of the Roman Catholic Church in America from colonial times to the present. Hennesey examines, in particular, minority Catholics and developments in the western part of the United States, a region often overlooked in religious histories.
416 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 1981
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May 18, 2024
A FINE HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AMERICA
James J. Hennesey (1926-2001) was a Jesuit priest who taught at various institutions, and was President of the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1981 book, “The history of Catholicism in the United States breaks into three distinct periods---three different sets of circumstances that influenced Catholic attitudes---although there are not watertight compartments for the periods. The basic ‘American’ period was roughly 1634-1829. The 1830s saw the start of the major immigrant period, as 245,000 Catholics descended on a church that had at the beginning of the decade numbered 318,000. Meanwhile, some Catholics drifted away at the same time as gains were being made through conversion, incorporation of Indians and Mexicans, and migration from Canada.” (Pg. 5)
He notes, “California Catholicism was in complete disarray when the last Mexican forces surrendered to the United States in 1847. A year later James W. Marshall discovered gold … in the Sacramento valley. Another year and California’s population had swelled to 100,000 as hopeful prospectors and hangers-on from the four corners of the world swarmed in. Spanish California was overwhelmed. Its Catholic history was about the take a dramatic new turn.” (Pg. 22)
He observes, “In the tidewater states and on the frontiers, Catholics and their church were involved on both sides in the American Revolution. The turbulent decade worked substantial change in the American religious psyche. It was not that toleration---a decent and practical respect for the opinion of others---became universal…” (Pg. 67)
He states, “The first age of the Catholic Church in the United States came to an end in i1851 when Rome-educated Francis P. Kenrick succeeded Samuel Eccleston at Baltimore… Six archbishops and twenty-six bishops met on behalf of a church which counted over one and a half million members and fifteen hundred priests. There were not startling results. Previous legislation was consolidated and confirmed. As the nation moved toward the final confrontation between north and South, it was significant that the council did not say a word on the subject of slavery.” (Pg. 114-115)
He points out, “The Catholic community became, if anything, super-patriotic. As early as 1950 they were the largest single body of churchgoers in the nation. But there still remained a gnawing sense of non-fit… Rome’s 19th century course, as shaped in reaction to France’s revolution and continental liberalism, did not facilitate the task.” (Pg. 126)
He recounts,” By late spring 1870, infallibility had become the focal point of all the council’s discussion… Twenty-five Americans voted yes… The bishops from the United States hardly took the council by storm, but they did manage to bring something of the ideas and peculiar genius of their own country. Many of the causes they espoused would surface against nearly a century later at the Second Vatican Council.” (Pg. 170-171)
He says, “The American form of Roman Catholicism which persisted past the halfway mark of the 20th century was shaped by immigrant needs. In an effort more palliative than curative, the church competed and then cooperated with the government in providing hospitals, asylums, orphanages, and industrial schools. To an extent the religiously hostile climate of public institutions demanded this approach.” (Pg. 184)
He observes, “The age of immigration ended with passage of restrictive and exclusionary legislation in the years 1921-1924. An era in American Catholic history ended with it. The church’s period of growth by immigration came to an end with the outbreak of war in Europe in the summer of 1914. The 1920s were a new experience.” (Pg. 220)
He states, “Their fellow Americans still demanded of the nation’s Catholic citizens that they establish the compatibility of their religion with American democratic ideals, laws, and practices. There was ample evidence that suspicion of them along those lines was widespread.” (Pg. 253)
He says, “For the Catholic community in the United States, World War II was another in a long series of rites of passage. Catholic patriotism was unalloyed. Church leaders supplied encouragement… Seeds of future schism were, however, already in the ground.” (Pg. 280)
He notes, “Like counterparts in mainline as well as traditionally pentecostal Protestant churches. Catholic charismatics represent a degree of reaction against the seemingly excessive preoccupation with social activism that gripped man church people in the 1960s.” (Pg. 318)
He recounts, “Nonviolent resistance would be the characteristic approach of the Catholic left. They engaged in direct action, including symbolic property destruction… Subsequent activities of the Catholic left featured raids to disrupt files in Selective Service offices. A favorite tactic was to pour blood on the files… The Catholic Left was a special object of J. Edgar Hoover’s ire… A Newsweek poll in 1971 support that view that the across-the-board impact of the anti-Vietnam actions was
small…” (Pg. 319-320)
He concludes, “That special sense was characteristic of the original shareholders in Spanish and French America and on Maryland and Pennsylvania farms. It was evident in the tiny city parish of Philadelphia. It found different expressions, but preserved continuity, during the long and turbulent immigrant era from which the church is in many ways still emerging. How it will be verified in the new age is the story of the future.” (Pg. 331)
This book will be of great interest to anyone wanting a comprehensive history of the American Catholic Church.
James J. Hennesey (1926-2001) was a Jesuit priest who taught at various institutions, and was President of the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1981 book, “The history of Catholicism in the United States breaks into three distinct periods---three different sets of circumstances that influenced Catholic attitudes---although there are not watertight compartments for the periods. The basic ‘American’ period was roughly 1634-1829. The 1830s saw the start of the major immigrant period, as 245,000 Catholics descended on a church that had at the beginning of the decade numbered 318,000. Meanwhile, some Catholics drifted away at the same time as gains were being made through conversion, incorporation of Indians and Mexicans, and migration from Canada.” (Pg. 5)
He notes, “California Catholicism was in complete disarray when the last Mexican forces surrendered to the United States in 1847. A year later James W. Marshall discovered gold … in the Sacramento valley. Another year and California’s population had swelled to 100,000 as hopeful prospectors and hangers-on from the four corners of the world swarmed in. Spanish California was overwhelmed. Its Catholic history was about the take a dramatic new turn.” (Pg. 22)
He observes, “In the tidewater states and on the frontiers, Catholics and their church were involved on both sides in the American Revolution. The turbulent decade worked substantial change in the American religious psyche. It was not that toleration---a decent and practical respect for the opinion of others---became universal…” (Pg. 67)
He states, “The first age of the Catholic Church in the United States came to an end in i1851 when Rome-educated Francis P. Kenrick succeeded Samuel Eccleston at Baltimore… Six archbishops and twenty-six bishops met on behalf of a church which counted over one and a half million members and fifteen hundred priests. There were not startling results. Previous legislation was consolidated and confirmed. As the nation moved toward the final confrontation between north and South, it was significant that the council did not say a word on the subject of slavery.” (Pg. 114-115)
He points out, “The Catholic community became, if anything, super-patriotic. As early as 1950 they were the largest single body of churchgoers in the nation. But there still remained a gnawing sense of non-fit… Rome’s 19th century course, as shaped in reaction to France’s revolution and continental liberalism, did not facilitate the task.” (Pg. 126)
He recounts,” By late spring 1870, infallibility had become the focal point of all the council’s discussion… Twenty-five Americans voted yes… The bishops from the United States hardly took the council by storm, but they did manage to bring something of the ideas and peculiar genius of their own country. Many of the causes they espoused would surface against nearly a century later at the Second Vatican Council.” (Pg. 170-171)
He says, “The American form of Roman Catholicism which persisted past the halfway mark of the 20th century was shaped by immigrant needs. In an effort more palliative than curative, the church competed and then cooperated with the government in providing hospitals, asylums, orphanages, and industrial schools. To an extent the religiously hostile climate of public institutions demanded this approach.” (Pg. 184)
He observes, “The age of immigration ended with passage of restrictive and exclusionary legislation in the years 1921-1924. An era in American Catholic history ended with it. The church’s period of growth by immigration came to an end with the outbreak of war in Europe in the summer of 1914. The 1920s were a new experience.” (Pg. 220)
He states, “Their fellow Americans still demanded of the nation’s Catholic citizens that they establish the compatibility of their religion with American democratic ideals, laws, and practices. There was ample evidence that suspicion of them along those lines was widespread.” (Pg. 253)
He says, “For the Catholic community in the United States, World War II was another in a long series of rites of passage. Catholic patriotism was unalloyed. Church leaders supplied encouragement… Seeds of future schism were, however, already in the ground.” (Pg. 280)
He notes, “Like counterparts in mainline as well as traditionally pentecostal Protestant churches. Catholic charismatics represent a degree of reaction against the seemingly excessive preoccupation with social activism that gripped man church people in the 1960s.” (Pg. 318)
He recounts, “Nonviolent resistance would be the characteristic approach of the Catholic left. They engaged in direct action, including symbolic property destruction… Subsequent activities of the Catholic left featured raids to disrupt files in Selective Service offices. A favorite tactic was to pour blood on the files… The Catholic Left was a special object of J. Edgar Hoover’s ire… A Newsweek poll in 1971 support that view that the across-the-board impact of the anti-Vietnam actions was
small…” (Pg. 319-320)
He concludes, “That special sense was characteristic of the original shareholders in Spanish and French America and on Maryland and Pennsylvania farms. It was evident in the tiny city parish of Philadelphia. It found different expressions, but preserved continuity, during the long and turbulent immigrant era from which the church is in many ways still emerging. How it will be verified in the new age is the story of the future.” (Pg. 331)
This book will be of great interest to anyone wanting a comprehensive history of the American Catholic Church.
January 29, 2022
Great book on the history of Catholics in America from the earliest Spanish explores to the end of the 1970s.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews