Parish Boundaries – The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth–Century Urban North (Historical Studies of Urban America) - Hardcover

Mcgreevy, John T

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226558738 ISBN 13: 9780226558738

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1996

Synopsis

Steeples topped by crosses still dominate neighbourhood skylines in many American cities, silent markers of local worlds rarely examined by historians. In this study, John McGreevy chronicles the world of Catholic parishes - and connects their place in urban history to the course of American race relations in the 20th century. In portraits of parish life in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and other cities, McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbours. He demonstrates how the territorial nature of the parish - more bound by geography than Protestant or Jewish congregations - kept Catholics in their neighbourhoods, and how this commitment to place complicated efforts to integrate urban neighbourhoods. He also shows how the church responded to the growing number of African-American parishioners by condemning racism, and how this teaching was received in communities rocked by racial strife. Taking the story through the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, McGreevy demonstrates how debates about community and racial justice reshaped the character of American Catholicism. Tracing the transformation of a church, its people, and the nation over the course of nearly a century, this work illuminates the impact of religious culture on the course of modern American history.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Steeples topped by crosses still dominate neighborhood skylines in many American cities, silent markers of local worlds rarely examined by historians. In Parish Boundaries, John McGreevy chronicles the history of these Catholic parishes and connects their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of American race relations in the twentieth century. In vivid portraits of parish life in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities, McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbors. He demonstrates how the territorial nature of the parish - more bound by geography than Protestant or Jewish congregations - kept Catholics in their neighborhoods, and how this commitment to place complicated efforts to integrate urban neighborhoods. He also shows how the church responded to the growing number of African-American parishioners by condemning racism, and how this teaching was received in communities rocked by racial strife. Taking the story through the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, McGreevy demonstrates how debates about community and racial justice helped trigger a more general reevaluation of the character of American Catholicism.

About the Author

John T. McGreevy is assistant professor of history at Harvard University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0226558738
• ISBN 13: 9780226558738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 368