AMST 30315 - We Hold These Truths: Catholics in 20th Century America

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

American Studies

Description:

As a survey of the Catholic presence in the United States during "the American century," the focus of the class will be on the ways Catholics integrated their national and religious identities. Defining American culture broadly, we will discuss Catholic politicians and laborers, monks and nuns, pacifists and cold warriors. What was the relationship between Catholic spirituality, cultural criticism and social reform? What consequences did conflict over sex and gender have in the realm of church authority and lay practice? Why did Catholics stop going to confession in the mid-sixties? We will examine the challenges of being American and Catholic by exploring Catholic themes in American popular music, film, and fiction; Catholic social teaching on the economy and nuclear war; and the changes in Catholic religious practice and self-understanding inspired by the events of the 1960s, including the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights movement. Profiles of "everyday Catholics" drawn from primary historical sources will be complemented by brief excerpts from the writings of influential thinkers and activists such as John Ryan, Dorothy Day, John Courtney Murray, Thomas Merton, Richard Rodriguez, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and Cathleen Kaveny. Two class sessions will be devoted to Notre Dame's role in this story, including the vocation and career of Father Ted Hesburgh, while three class sessions will be devoted to contemporary challenges facing Catholics and the Church.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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