Amer Catholics The Roman Que

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.

Who are American Catholics and what do they believe and practice? How has American Catholicism influenced and been influenced by American culture and society? This book examines the history of American Catholics from the colonial era to the present, with an emphasis on changes and challenges in the contemporary church. Chester Gillis chronicles America Catholics: where they have come from, how they have integrated into American society, and how the church has influenced their lives. He highlights key events and people, examines data on Catholics and their relationship to the church, and considers the church’s positions and actions on politics, education, and gender and sexuality in the context of its history and doctrines. This second edition of Roman Catholicism in America pays particular attention to the tumultuous past twenty years and points toward the future of the religion in the United States. It examines the unprecedented crisis of sexual abuse by priests—the legal, moral, financial, and institutional repercussions of which continue to this day—and the bishops’ role in it. Gillis also discusses the election of Pope Francis and the controversial role Catholic leadership has played in American politics.

Shaken by the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal, and challenged from within by social and theological division, Catholics in America are at a crossroads. But is today’s situation unique? And where will Catholicism go from here? With the belief that we understand our present by studying our past, James O’Toole offers a bold and panoramic history of the American Catholic laity. O’Toole tells the story of this ancient church from the perspective of ordinary Americans, the lay believers who have kept their faith despite persecution from without and clergy abuse from within. It is an epic tale, from the first settlements of Catholics in the colonies to the turmoil of the scandal-ridden present, and through the church’s many American incarnations in between. We see Catholics’ complex relationship to Rome and to their own American nation. O’Toole brings to life both the grand sweep of institutional change and the daily practice that sustained believers. The Faithful pays particular attention to the intricacies of prayer and ritual—the ways men and women have found to express their faith as Catholics over the centuries. With an intimate knowledge of the dilemmas and hopes of today’s church, O’Toole presents a new vision and offers a glimpse into the possible future of the church and its parishioners. Moving past the pulpit and into the pews, The Faithful is an unmatched look at the American Catholic laity. Today’s Catholics will find much to educate and inspire them in these pages, and non-Catholics will gain a newfound understanding of their religious brethren.

Excerpt from American Catholics and the Roman Question The following pages are an expansion of an article published by me on the same subject in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1892. Certain qualified judges, whose desire was for me a command, having urged me to publish it separately, I felt it my duty to somewhat enlarge its scope and reinforce its argument. It is unnecessary to say that I have by no means either the intention or the pretension of exhausting such a subject in so few pages. I have proposed to myself primarily to Show clearly and frankly the Catholic point of View from which the Roman question should be regarded, indicating the principal considerations which should be taken into account in a true conception and solution of it, and thus to disengage it from those prejudices and ambiguities with which the best intentioned people sometimes surround it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Roman Sources for the History of American Catholicism, 1763–1939 is a comprehensive reference volume, researched and compiled by Matteo Binasco, that introduces readers to the rich content of Roman archives and their vast potential for U.S. Catholic history in particular. In 2014, the University of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism hosted a seminar in Rome that examined transatlantic approaches to U.S. Catholic history and encouraged the use of the Vatican Secret Archives and other Roman repositories by today’s historians. Participants recognized the need for an English-language guide to archival sources throughout Rome that would enrich individual research projects and the field at large. This volume responds to that need. Binasco offers a groundbreaking description of materials relevant to U.S. Catholic history in fifty-nine archives and libraries of Rome. Detailed profiles describe each repository and its holdings relevant to American Catholic studies. A historical introduction by Luca Codignola and Matteo Sanfilippo reviews the intricate web of relations linking the Holy See and the American Catholic Church since the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Roman sources have become crucial in understanding the formation and development of the Catholic Church in America, and their importance will continue to grow. This timely source will meet the needs of a ready and receptive audience, which will include scholars of U.S. religious history and American Catholicism as well as Americanist scholars conducting research in Roman archives.