Conference seeks church, history links
By ERIN PIROUTEK
Assistant News Editor
This weekend's conference, "Catholicism in 20th Century America" is committed to linking the history of the Catholic community to the history of American society as a whole in the last 100 years.
"If you're wondering about the history of American Catholicism, this is an unusual opportunity," Notre Dame history professor John McGreevy said.
"The focus is on 20th century Catholicism and trying to do more research and get a better understanding of the last 100 years," said history professor Jay Dolan, founder of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. Dolan explained that significant research was done on 19th century Catholicism, but 20th century Catholicism has been relatively ignored.
The organizers strive to reconcile problems of marginalization of Catholic history within mainstream American history.
This desire to integrate Catholic history with American history is not new.
"The issues discussed in the conference have been discussed in Catholic historical circles for the last 10 years or so," said Christopher Shannon, Cushwa Center research associate.
The conference represents three years of work. Scholars from institutions nationwide, including Boston College, Yale and Stanford will present research.
The conference addresses the "public presence" of Catholicism in today's society, including the interaction between Catholicism and other religions. The contributions of Catholic women ... both lay and religious ... to society, will also be discussed.
"Mainstream historians have pretty much ignored the contribution of Catholic nuns to ... [social] work," said Shannon, noting the work of sisters in hospitals and schools.
Several presentations will deal with the struggle of Catholic women to combine the vocations of work and family.
Birth control, a controversial issue among today's Catholics, is the topic of a presentation by Leslie Tentler, of the Catholic University of America. Shannon explained that mainstream history needs to recognize the Catholic impact on the history of birth control and sexuality.
"Because Catholics were distinct on this issue, they can illuminate this issue in ways that other groups can't," said Shannon.
Both Euro-American popular Catholicism and Latino-American popular Catholicism are discussed, becauase of their major influences in today's church. Although the church hierarchy has been dominated by European Americans, Latino culture also has a distinct presence in Catholic devotions. For example, Notre Dame recently celebrated Mass honoring "Our Lady of Guadalupe."
The conference is sponsored by the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism with support from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the University of Notre Dame.
Charles and Margaret Hall Cushwa family provided the initial funding for the Center, which began operating in 1975. Charles Cushwa, a 1931 graduate of Notre Dame, and Margaret Cushwa, a graduate of Saint Mary's had life-long interest in Amercian Catholicism. Scott Appleby had been the Cushwa director since Dolan stepped down in 1993.
The conference opens tonight with "Integrating Catholic History and American History" by Kathryn Kish Sklar of SUNY Binghamton. The presentation is at 7:30 p.m. at McKenna Hall.
All News Stories for Thursday, March 9, 2000
