Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008 A broad and compelling
look at the impact of the largest Catholic order of men on American
culture With infectious energy and a genuine gift for storytelling,
Raymond A. Schroth recounts the history of Jesuits in the United
States. The American Jesuits isn't simply a book for Catholics;
it's for anyone who loves a well-told historical tale. For more
than 450 years, Jesuit priests have traveled the globe out of a
religious commitment to serve others. Their order, the Society of
Jesus, is the largest religious order of men in the Catholic
Church, with more than 20,000 members around the world and almost
3,000 in the United States. It is one of the more liberal orders in
the Church, taking very public stands in the U.S. on behalf of
social justice causes such as the promotion of immigrants' rights
and humanitarian aid, including assistance to Africa's poor, and
against American involvement in "unjust wars." Jesuits have played
an important part in Americanizing the Catholic Church and in
preparing Catholic immigrants for inclusion into American society.
Starting off with the first Jesuit to reach the New World-he was
promptly murdered on the Florida coast-Schroth focuses on the key
periods of the Jesuit experience in the Americas, beginning with
the era of European explorers, many of whom were accompanied by
Jesuits and some of whom were Jesuits themselves. Suppressed around
the time of the American Revolution, the Society experienced
resurgence in the nineteenth century, arriving in the U.S. along
with waves of Catholic immigrants and establishing a network of
high schools and universities. In the mid-twentieth century, the
Society transformed itself to serve an urbanizing nation. Schroth
is not blind to the Society's shortcomings and not all of his story
reflects well on the Jesuits. However, as he reminds readers,
Jesuits are not gods and they don't dwell in mountaintop
monasteries. Rather, they are imperfect men who work in a messy
world to "find God in all things" and to help their fellow men and
women do the same. A quintessential American tale of men willing to
take risks - for Indians, blacks, immigrants, and the poor, and to
promote a loving picture of God-The American Jesuits offers a broad
and compelling look at the impact of this 400-year-old
international order on American culture and the culture's impact on
the Jesuits.
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