Philip Gleason

Boundlessness, Consolidation, and Discontinuity between Generations: Catholic Seminary Studies in Antebellum America

Many years ago John Higham identified a transition in American culture “from boundlessness to consolidation,” the beginnings of which could be traced to the 1850s. Among indications of a scaling back in the prevailing sense of unlimited openness were an incipient shift from romanticism to realism in the arts, and a movement toward tighter organization and centralization, often associated with the Civil War, which was already discernible in the prewar decade. In describing this shift, Higham said little about religion, observing only that the growth of professionalism reduced competition among Protestant denominations and “produced a more highly trained ministry, greater concern with the liturgical side of religion, and a decline of the crusading fervor of an earlier day.” Although he made no mention of American Catholicism, the concept of “boundlessness” seems sufficiently capacious to apply to the pioneering decades of Catholic development, and by midcentury a process of consolidation was definitely under way in that dimension of the national culture. My aim in this essay is to look more closely at boundlessness in one area of Catholic life and to call attention to a generational shift in outlook that accompanied the process of consolidation.

John Carroll Recovered: Abstracts of Letters and Other Documents Not Found in the John Carroll Papers (review)

“A scarcity of educated Catholics”? Certainly, one would wish that more had the opportunity of university education, but the overall educational standard was such as to enable a Catholic population to achieve political independence and establish a successful new state. Again, in a later chapter E. J. Coyne is described as holding “conservative and anachronistic beliefs”—yet he was something of a prophet of vocationalism, which involved change, not conservation, and his so-called “anachronism” reflected widespread contemporary points of view shared by Christopher Dawson, Belloc, Chesterton, and many others of the period.

Arthur Preuss: Journalist and Voice of German and Conservative Catholics in America, 1871-1934 by Rory T. Conley (review)

Although a prominent figure on the Catholic journalistic scene from 1894 until his death in 1934, Arthur Preuss has been almost completely forgotten. This is the first book-length study, and its bibliography lists not a single article devoted to Preusss career. Two reasons for this neglect can be suggested. First, his identification as a German and a conservative tended, as we say nowadays, to marginalize Preuss; second, the daunting bulk of his journalistic output— forty volumes, most of which he wrote himself—perhaps discouraged potential students. Happily, Rory T. Conley did not allow himself to become discouraged. His book provides a comprehensive account of Preusss career and serves as an exhaustive guide to his writings, including newspaper editorials not previously known to be his.

Book Review: The Legacy of the German Refugee IntellectualsThe Legacy of the German Refugee Intellectuals. By BoyersRobert, ed. New York: Schocken Books, 1972. Pp. 307.

horse in the mid-nineteenth century) made possible a higher standard of living by combining small farms into large ones. The stem family meant that even the son who did inherit the farm would not be economically independent until the middle years of life. One postponed marriage or left Ireland (often to urban situations where the death rate was as high or higher than it was during the Famine) to improve ones standard of living and not because of the sexual puritanism of the Church. On the contrary, according to Kennedy, sexual puritanism arose when the Church was faced with large numbers of unmarried adults and the clergy became obsessed with the dangers of premarital sex. These dangers were very real. He even suggests that there may have been a relationship between resistance to the Church on political issues and resistance to the Church on moral issues. The Church at the hierarchical level, though not at the parish level, opposed the revolution and supported early marriage. If you wanted political freedom, you opposed the Church; if you wanted to increase your standard of living, you opposed the Church. Perhaps, says Kennedy, resisting the Church politically reinforced opposition to its teaching on early marriage. Freedom and prosperity both required a certain amount of stubborn refusal to listen to what the officialChurch was saying. Since Kennedys book was written, Professor Emmet Larkin has published his brilliant article on the devotional revolution in mid-nineteenthcentury Ireland led by the remarkable Cardinal Cullen of Dublin. Larkin and Kennedy complement each other nicely. Both offer remarkable insights into what really went on in nineteenth-century Ireland, and they also give us some help in beginning to understand the fascinating and as yet largely unexplored phenomenon of the American Irish. For if it was precisely those who needed and wanted a higher standard of living who left Ireland, then one must say that their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren have achieved it. Of all the Gentile religio-ethnic groups (including the English), the Irish Catholics are the most successful in American society-even standardizing for region and city-size. The fact that they are not as successful as Jews has obscured how brilliantly successful they have been in fact. Robert Kennedys book gives us some understanding of how and where the passionate quest of the American Irish for comfort and respectability began.

Book Review: Industrialization, Immigrants, and Americanizers: The View from Milwaukee, 1866–1921KormanGerd, Industrialization, Immigrants, and Americanizers: The View from Milwaukee, 1866–1921.Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1967. Pp. x, 225.

Chapter seven is the longest (33 pages) and concerns mortality. Standardization, particularly those methods employed by the Registrar General of England and Wales, is discussed in some detail. The discussions of infant mortality and differential mortality are particularly clear. The chapter also deals with life table construction and generation mortality tables. A very short chapter (5 pages) concerns migration and consists almost entirely of a description of data on international migration collected in Great Britain. No mention of analytical methods is made. Chapter nine, on population estimation and projection, is followed by a long chapter in sickness measurement, much of which is devoted to describing the collection of British health statistics. The book concludes with a chapter on manpower statistics. Throughout his manual, Benjamin draws on his rich experience with British demographic statistics. He devotes much attention to the description of demographic data collected in Britain and to the methods of analysis and presentation used by the Registrar General. The vast majority of his references (over 70%) are either to British publications or to British authors including a large number of government publications. Moreover, almost all his numerical examples refer to Britain. Thus the manual appears most appropriate for use by British social scientists or someone planning to use British demographic statistics in his research. Although Benjamin includes all the basic topics of demographic analysis, I do not think his coverage is well balanced in light of the general nature of his intended audience. Several topics are dealt with in too much detail while others are treated insufficiently. His treatment of migration is far too brief and his chapter on marriage incomplete. Too much attention is given to the description of the census and sickness measurement. I suspect that much of his discussion of the actual analytical methods is too concise for the uninitiated reader to follow without great difficulty. A more generous use of numerical examples would probably help the student digest the many formulas found in the text, which occasionally seem incomprehensible at first sight due to the complex notation system employed. One last comment. This manual is too brief for a course on demographic analysis per se, and too specialized for a general social statistics or methods course. It is perhaps best suited as supplemental reading for a graduate level course on general population problems and particularly if the students are British.