An account of how the Catholic Church in urban areas, with its
largely ethnic parishes, responded to American racism and the
ferment of the civil rights movement. Throughout most of this
century, McGreevy (History/Harvard) asserts, Catholic parishes,
with their distinctive emphasis on geographical boundaries,
constituted a unique combination of educational, religious, and
social communities, representing "a specifically Catholic style of
merging neighborhood and region." Catholics arriving in America
gravitated to areas in which there were Catholic churches, and the
neighborhoods developed a clear, intense ethnic identity that did
not easily admit outsiders. McGreevy concentrates on the period
between WW I, when the Catholic system of parishes and schools
aggressively expanded into every section of the cities, and the
early 1970s, when the system began to show signs of strain. He is
especially interested in exploring how Catholics and
African-Americans interacted with one another. There was, early on,
clear Vatican impatience with the existence of separate Catholic
institutions for blacks. A number of individuals in the Church were
uneasy with the unintended results of the parish system: Jesuit
John LaFarge worked for greater integration, as did the Federation
of Coloured Catholics. Public figures like Bishop Sheen and
Cardinal Spellman presented a vision of Catholicism as transcending
national and racial boundaries. Many Catholics endorsed integration
in principle but fiercely opposed upsetting the ethnic homeostasis
of their own parishes. In the 1960s Catholics' social consciousness
was raised by the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights
movement. But as the model of integration came to be questioned in
the name of respect for diversity, liberal Catholics who had fought
against the parish system were, paradoxically, faced with a crisis.
For many, their religious affiliation seemed an obstacle that
protected a discredited status quo. A thorough, sensitive, and
balanced contribution. (Kirkus Reviews)
This volume chronicles the history of Catholic parishes in such
major cities as Boston, Chicago, Detriot, New York and
Philadelphia, linking their unique place in the urban landscape to
the course of 20th-century American race relations. In portraits of
parish life, the book examines the contacts and conflicts between
Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbours. By
tracing the transformation of a church, its people and the nation,
the book illuminates the enormous impact of religious culture on
modern American society.
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