John T McGreevy. Catholicism and American Freedom: a History.JOHN T MCGREEVY. Catholicism and American Freedom: a History. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , W. W. Norton, 2003, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0393047601, 295 pages, plus 133 pages of notes, bibliography, and index. This is a scholarly but very readable and thought provoking book that canvasses the role of the Catholic church in the life of the United States of America UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The name of this country. The United States, now thirty-one in number, are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, from the 1840s to today. It describes clearly how the church, through its scholars and its bishops, has engaged in the shaping of American political opinion and broader religious life. The author does this by addressing several major issues in American life: slavery, civil war, education (both by church and state), democracy as a social system, birth control, abortion, and current issues of sexual abuse by clergy. He details meticulously the growth of intellectual opinion within the American church, and highlights how those different opinions came about and were held by bishops and scholars, and the principal apologists for the other major non-Catholic religious streams within the USA. On all subjects quite differing opinions have been held (not all bishops agreed slavery was a bad thing, for example). Stark differences continue to be held among scholars, despite official church pronouncements declaring an end to the matter. McGreevy details the significant effects on US church life of 19th century emigres fleeing from anti-clerical Europe, and how most of those who arrived in the USA seem to have been Jesuits who frequently demonstrated little love or understanding of democracy as a social system, as even then practised in the New World. One fascinating theme throughout the book is the important role a number of these emigres, and their first generation of (mostly clerical) US proteges played in the drafting of various Papal encyclicals. McGreevy is no apologist Apologist Any of the Christian writers, primarily in the 2nd century, who attempted to provide a defense of Christianity against Greco-Roman culture. Many of their writings were addressed to Roman emperors and were submitted to government secretaries in order to defend for any one Catholic church point of view. His final summation summation n. the final argument of an attorney at the close of a trial in which he/she attempts to convince the judge and/or jury of the virtues of the client's case. (See: closing argument) is that serious differences of opinion over all the thematic subjects he discussed 'suggest the fragility of an institution struggling to distinguish permanent truth from contingent application'. His comment would seem to apply equally as well in the Australian context. The book suggests, mainly by not mentioning it, that women did not feature in the church's intellectual life over much of the period it covers. Only within the last 40 years or so have women begun to make their views heard, most significantly in areas of reproduction. The author does note the important role played by some women religious in particular in bringing back to the USA the big discovery that the greatest needs of Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. were not institutions like schools, but social support for the oppressed op·press tr.v. op·pressed, op·press·ing, op·press·es 1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny. 2. underclasses. The growth of the 'theology of revolution' was the result. In the Australian context there are similar messages from Australian religious working in Latin America. John T McGreevy is Associate Professor of History, Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana This article is about the city in Indiana, US. For other uses of the name South Bend, see South Bend (disambiguation). South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. , USA. TW Campbell |
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