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

John T. McGreevy (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

0226558738 978-0226558738 May 15, 1996 1
Parish Boundaries chronicles the history of Catholic parishes in major cities such as Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia, melding their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of twentieth century American race relations. In vivid portraits of parish life, John McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbors. By tracing the transformation of a church, its people, and the nation, McGreevy illuminates the enormous impact of religious culture on modern American society.

"Parish Boundaries can take its place in the front ranks of the literature of urban race relations."—Jonathan Dorfman, Washington Post Book Review

"A prodigiously researched, gracefully written book distinguished especially by its seamless treatment of social and intellectual history."—Robert Orsi, American Historical Review

"Parish Boundaries will fascinate historians and anyone interested in the historic connection between parish and race."—Ed Marciniak, Chicago Tribune

"The history that remains to be written will rest on the firm foundation of Mr. McGreevy's remarkable book."—Richard Wightman Fox, New York Times Book Review

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the summer of 1974, a crowd of Irish-American Catholics in south Boston, protesting the introduction of busing, screamed abuse and threw eggs at Edward Kennedy as he walked into a public elementary school leading a little black girl by the hand. It was a moment redolent of the ironies and passions of American Catholicism's divisions over racism. As McGreevy's excellent history reveals, that protest mob reflected a wider struggle within the church. Many priests and nuns were in the forefront of the civil rights movement. And yet, such liberals often acted without taking into account the fears and insecurities of the traditionally white and working-class congregations in the local parishes. McGreevy vividly brings to life this struggle within the church between a universal vision and a parochial one.

From Kirkus Reviews

An account of how the Catholic Church in urban areas, with its largely ethnic parishes, responded to American racism and the ferment of the civil rights movement. Throughout most of this century, McGreevy (History/Harvard) asserts, Catholic parishes, with their distinctive emphasis on geographical boundaries, constituted a unique combination of educational, religious, and social communities, representing ``a specifically Catholic style of merging neighborhood and region.'' Catholics arriving in America gravitated to areas in which there were Catholic churches, and the neighborhoods developed a clear, intense ethnic identity that did not easily admit outsiders. McGreevy concentrates on the period between WW I, when the Catholic system of parishes and schools aggressively expanded into every section of the cities, and the early 1970s, when the system began to show signs of strain. He is especially interested in exploring how Catholics and African-Americans interacted with one another. There was, early on, clear Vatican impatience with the existence of separate Catholic institutions for blacks. A number of individuals in the Church were uneasy with the unintended results of the parish system: Jesuit John LaFarge worked for greater integration, as did the Federation of Coloured Catholics. Public figures like Bishop Sheen and Cardinal Spellman presented a vision of Catholicism as transcending national and racial boundaries. Many Catholics endorsed integration in principle but fiercely opposed upsetting the ethnic homeostasis of their own parishes. In the 1960s Catholics' social consciousness was raised by the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights movement. But as the model of integration came to be questioned in the name of respect for diversity, liberal Catholics who had fought against the parish system were, paradoxically, faced with a crisis. For many, their religious affiliation seemed an obstacle that protected a discredited status quo. A thorough, sensitive, and balanced contribution. (photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (May 15, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0226558738
  • ISBN-13: 978-0226558738
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A splendid book, April 26, 2003
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DHW (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
This is one of the best books on Roman Catholics in Modern North America that I have encountered.
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1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening..., May 13, 2006
By 
C. A. Blackmar (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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A very readable history of the Church's complex role in race relations in the 20th century. This is one of the best histories I've read.
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8 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Like most "intellectuals", McGreevy is clueless, July 2, 2001
By 
Terry M. Callen (Gloucester City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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It's perfectly fine for John McGreevy to sit in his ivory tower and pass judgment on those he deems "racist."

What he needs is a reality check....he should take a ride through ANY big city and see how once vital working class neighborhoods have been turned to dangerous slums by his precious "integration."

He needs to be shown the ever-growing lists of all the Catholic churches and schools that have been closed and parishes either merged or phased out of existence...many over 100 years old... because the denizens of these "changed" neighborhoods either can't or won't support them.

Like most of the so-called "intelligenstia", McGreevy fails to see that what is marvelous in theory just does not work in reality.

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First Sentence:
Riots swept across much of Chicago during the final days of July 1919. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
parish file, archdiocesan chancellor, interracial council, block rosary, housing file, interracial justice, racial transition, national parishes, clergy conference, parish bulletin, interview with author, parish societies, parish neighborhood
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Catholic Interracial Council, African-American Catholics, Martin Luther King, Second Vatican Council, United States, Roman Catholic, Cardinal Spellman, World War, Back of the Yards, Archbishop Cody, Holy Angels, Mystical Body of Christ, Cardinal Stritch, Mayor Daley, Puerto Rican, City Hall, Federated Colored Catholics, Peter Claver, Saul Alinsky, Trumbull Park, Cardinal Cushing, Father Groppi, Hudson Guild, South Bend
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