THE FAITHFUL

Intermittently intriguing look at the development of the American Catholic church from the perspective of its laity.

O’Toole (History/Boston Coll.; Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practice in Twentieth-Century America, 2004, etc.) divides the Catholic history in America into six eras. In each case, he focuses on the laypersons who powered the work of the church and made up its ever-changing demographic. Starting with the “Priestless Church” of the nation’s early decades, when parishioners had to make their way in both fledgling cities and the wilderness without much clerical leadership, the author then moves on to the “Church of the Democratic Republic,” which tried to reconcile American egalitarianism with the church’s hierarchical structure. Later in the 19th century came the “Immigrant Church,” which struggled with accommodating rapid and often volatile changes in the national population. The 20th century saw the “Church of Catholic Action” followed by the “Church of Vatican II,” eras which included social unrest and sea changes in the church itself. Finally, the author looks at the “Church in the Twenty-first Century” and its struggles with the clergy molestation scandal, a scarcity of priests and the continued shifting of demographics due to immigration. O’Toole’s history, focusing especially on personal narratives, makes for captivating reading. But that same reliance upon individual accounts becomes somewhat problematic, as the author often seems to identify national trends based on scant information from primary sources. The book also fails to place American Catholicism within a global context. For instance, O’Toole describes the change in communion being administered in the hand instead of on the tongue, which was practiced by many parishes in the mid 20th century. But was this new practice found in America only or was it part of a global trend?

A history worth reading.