Check out Carrie Gates’s recent interview with Notre Dame historian John McGreevy. They discuss his new book Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis. A taste: In the book, you address many of the challenges the...
Catholic history
Priests in cars in Milwaukee
Over JSTOR Daily, Livia Gershon, with the help of historian Peter Cajka, explains how the automobile changed Milwaukee Catholicism. Here is a taste: With the rise of cars, and especially after 1945, these boundaries loosened. Many Catholics moved out of...
Catholic historian Christopher Shannon discusses Catholic and Evangelical historiography
If you have been reading Current this week you may have noticed that we featured an interview with historian Christopher Shannon and a review of his new book American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey Through Catholic Life in a New World....
The Author’s Corner with Evan Haefeli
Evan Haefeli is Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University. This interview is based on his new book, Against Popery: Britain, Empire, and Anti-Catholicism (University of Virginia Press, 2020). JF: What led you to write Against Popery? EH: I...
The Author’s Corner with Kate Moran
Kate Moran is Associate Professor of American Studies at Saint Louis University. This interview is based on her new book, The Imperial Church: Catholic Founding Fathers and United States Empire (Cornell University Press, 2020). JF: Why did you decide to...
The “moral complexity” of Junipero Serra
Father Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest who established some of the earliest Spanish missions in California, has been under attack of late. On June 19, 2020, activists pulled-down a Serra statue in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The following day,...
The Author’s Corner with Gracjan Kraszewski
Gracjan Kraszewski is Director of Intellectual Formation at St. Augustine’s Catholic Center at the University of Idaho. He is also Instructor of Construction and Design at Washington State University. This interview is based on his new book, Catholic Confederates: Faith and...
Pope Francis to Open Records of Pope Pius XII’s Papacy
The records of Pope Pius XII will be open to scholars next March. If you want to know why this is important check out David Kertzer‘s piece at The Atlantic: “The Secrets That Might Be Hiding in the Vatican’s Archives.” Here...
Theodore McCarrick Will Always Be a Priest
Over at The Conversation, Mathew Schmalz of the College of Holy Cross explains why the disgraced Catholic bishop Theodore McCarrick will continue to be a priest despite his recent defrocking. Here is a taste: The Vatican recently “defrocked” Theodore McCarrick, a former...
American. Catholic. Historical. Association.
The American Catholic Historical Association is trying something new this year. During its annual meeting at the AHA in Chicago some sessions will be devoted to a critical examination of the four words in its name: “American,” “Catholic,” “Historical,” and “Association.” ...
Episode 42: An American Saint
Despite often being cast as the religion of immigrants, Catholicism has a long history here in the United States. Unfortunately, so does anti-Catholicism. In this episode, host John Fea and producer Drew Dyrli Hermeling discuss American Catholicism. John looks at...
Father Junipero Serra is OUT at Stanford
Here is the Stanford press release: Stanford will rename some campus features named for Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century founder of the California mission system, but will retain the Serra name and the names of other Spanish missionaries and settlers...
The Author’s Corner with Cassie Yacovazzi
Cassie Yacovazzi is Visiting Assistant Professor of History at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. This interview is based on her new book Escaped Nuns: True Womanhood and the Campaign Against Convents in Antebellum America (Oxford University Press, 2018). JF: What led you to write Escaped Nuns?...
Catherine O’Donnell on Elizabeth Ann Seton
I am really looking forward to Catherine O’Donnell‘s forthcoming biography of Elizabeth Seton. This weekend she delivered the keynote address at the Spring meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Here is...
Call for Papers: American Catholic Historical Association 2018 Spring Meeting
It will be held April 12-15 at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The ACHA is now accepting individual papers and panels for inclusion in its 2018 spring meeting to be held April 12-15 at historic Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg,...
St. Augustine and the Conversion of a Progressive Journalist
Elizabeth Bruenig converted to Catholicism in 2014. Her decision to unite with the church of Rome came through her reading of St. Augustine. She describes her spiritual journey in a recent piece at America magazine. Here is a taste: Part of...
Who Was Gonzaga?
For those of you settling in for the Gonzaga-North Carolina national championship game, allow me to provide some historical context for your viewing experience. Perhaps some of you know that Gonzaga is a Catholic (Jesuit) university in Spokane, Washington, but...
Mary Beth Connolly: "A Historian Walks into a Religion and Theology Conference and…."
Cross-posted from One Solid ComfortIn another post from the floor of the American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Mary Beth Connolly discusses her experience as a historian at a religion conference. This post was originally written for her blog One Solid Comfort. We...
The Battle Over Pope Francis Historicized
I think it is pretty clear by now that many Catholics–mostly conservative Catholics–are not big fans of Pope Francis. Mark Silk, writing at his blog Spiritual Politics, connects the current criticism of Francis to the Neo-Jansenist challenge to papal authority...
Rev. John Hugo and American Catholicism at the AHA/ACHA
Father John Hugo What? You have never heard of Rev. John Hugo? If you are interested in the priest whom Dorothy Day credited for her “second conversion,” check out the session entitled “Rev. John Hugo and American Catholicism, 1911-1985. It is session […]