Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Spanning nearly 500 years, The American Catholic Experience describes the Catholic experience from the arrival of Columbus and the other European explorers to the present day. Jay P. Dolan discusses Catholicism as it spread across the New World, transforming—and being transformed by—the land and its people. The book traces the evolution of the urban ethnic communities by examining the vital contributions of the immigrant church to Catholicism. Finally, Dolan examines the controversy of the modern church and the extraordinary changes in the Catholic consciousness as it comes to grips with such contemporary social and theological issues as war and peace, the arms race, abortion, social justice, the ordination of women, and a married clergy.
“In this work, Dolan is concerned less with traditional institutional history—orders, bishops, churches—than with a broader social history of the Catholic experience itself. At the same time, he does not ignore structures and institutions, but seeks to place them within the context of Catholic life. Dolan’s style is provocative and allows him to hold the reader’s interest while providing endless material. This is a helpful volume which serves as an excellent introduction to Catholic experience in America.” —Review and Expositor
Jay P. Dolan was a Professor of History and Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. He is now Professor Emeritus of History. Previous publications include The Immigrant Church: New York’s Irish and German Catholics, 1815-1865, (Notre Dame Press, 1982) and Catholic Revivalism: The American Experience , 1830-1900 (Notre Dame Press, 1977).