Conflict and Consensus in Catholic Women's Education
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CONFLICT AND CONSENSUS IN CATHOLIC WOMEN’S EDUCATION: A HISTORY OF SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE, 1844-1900 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY BY BRIDGET K. HAHN BALL STATE UNIVERSITY MUNCIE, INDIANA MAY 2012 ACKNOWLAGMENTS I could not have completed this project alone. I must thank Dr. Stephan for his continuous guidance and sharp editing eye. Without his help and direction this project would have floundered. I also have to thank the archivists at Saint Mary’s College Archives and the Congregation of the Holy Cross Archives, who helped me find the primary sources that gave this study its depth. In addition, I must thank those closest to me who helped in all of the small (and some large) ways that can never be fully enumerated. To my mom and dad, who provided me not only with necessities, but also with constant support and encouragement, I am forever grateful. To my extended family whose constant questions and at times nagging, helped motivate me to finish this project. To my friend, Melissa Estes, who read draft after draft, listened to my crazy ideas at midnight, who encouraged me and patiently listened to my whining, I wouldn’t have gotten here if you hadn’t constantly reminded me that I could do this. And to all the other friends, Jess, Julie, Erin, Abby, Courtney, and Delia all of whom provided moral support, cookies, and mixed CDs during the writing process, I’m so lucky to have you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Popery, Gender, and Education: An Institutional History of the American Catholic Church and How Religious Belief Shaped Women’s Education Saint Mary’s College has long proclaimed that it focuses on educating the whole woman; mind, spirit, and body in the hopes of creating women uniquely suited to face the current (whatever decade that might be or has been) social situation. Nothing expresses this goal better than the marketing motto, “Educating Women, Transforming Lives,” which graced the college’s promotional materials from 2004-2009. This slogan reflects the college’s commitment to graduating young women as empowered, educated, and Christian individuals who can create change in the world around them. This motto also signifies the importance placed on women and their ability to have an active role in society that has played a fundamental role in the foundation of the college, creating a legacy of active community involvement and a dedication to the ideas of dignity, respect, and self- confidence for all women. Saint Mary’s graduates are given a card, which they are encouraged to carry in their wallets upon their graduation that reflect these ideals.1 In spite of the college’s efforts to craft a seamless, institutional history for its contemporary students, one that connects its present aims to a past founded on consensus among its founders, my research sheds light on the considerable conflict that also shaped 1 See Appendix 1A, for a copy of such card. Hahn 2 Saint Mary’s role in the Catholic Church and its mission to educate young women. This study will examine the obstacles faced in creating a college for women within a religious society that remains highly patriarchal. I will analyze the college’s founding in 1844, its break from male leadership and patronage in the 1860s, its relations with skeptical locals between 1844-1900, and, finally, its curricular aims relative to Protestant institutions in the same era. By examining the institutional history of Saint Mary’s College this study will determine the path to autonomy, explore the tensions between Catholic tradition— rooted in European models of piety—and its American context, as well as the differences in how Catholic and Protestant women were educated, and if it had any role in the larger conflict that would emerge between Protestants and Catholics in the early twentieth century. Until recently Catholicism was nearly written out of this era so dominated by Protestant revivalism. But when Father Sorin and the Sisters of the Holy Cross arrived, they set out to build upon missions to Indians in the Great Lakes that had their roots in the eighteenth century. When Catholicism has entered into the historiographical discussion, the focus has been on how the Catholic Church could compete with the explosive growth of the Baptists and Methodists in the early nineteenth century, focusing largely on regional differences between the North and South. Indeed, the historiography has stressed how the Catholic Church sought to keep pace with westward American expansion while engaging the increasingly democratic values of the American population. In the eighteenth century, the Protestant majority in the British colonies showed continued hostility towards Catholics. Only in Pennsylvania and the French colonies were Hahn 3 Catholics welcomed and embraced. The French embraced Catholics because they had been “hardened by long civil wars over religion[.] The crown regarded Catholic uniformity as essential to the political subservience of its subjects.”2 In the British colonies little welcome was offered to Catholics, with the exception of Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania William Penn, tired of being persecuted for being a religious outsider, created a colony which welcomed all religions. For the most part distrust towards Catholics remained widespread. Alan Taylor notes that between 1689 and 1713 warfare made France a major concern for Britain, creating one unifying theme among all British subjects: a distrust and hatred of Catholics. “Despite their many internal disputes over religion, the Scots, the English, and their colonists could see themselves as united Protestants when they focused outward upon Catholic France.”3 In colonial America national identity became tied to religious belief. Catholics were unsuitable subjects because of their beliefs. With American independence came now questions from Protestants about the fitness of American Catholics for citizenship. Francis Cogliano’s essay Exposing the Idolatry of the Romish Church: Anti-popery and Colonial New England best explains the interconnection of these anti-Catholic fears in the cultural and economic context of the Revolution. Protestants had the “intellectual freedom to read scripture; in turn, their intellectual freedom permitted their religious and political freedom; religious and political freedom produced economic initiative and drive which produced economic prosperity— 2 Alan Taylor, American Colonies (New York: Penguin, 2001), 374. 3 Ibid., 300. Hahn 4 the emblem of a free society.”4 Catholics, who accessed scriptures during the mass through a priest were seen as ignorant, because scripture access led to intellectual autonomy. Because of this ignorance, Catholics were “easy dupes for tyrants, secular and religious, thus the church hierarchy was able to steal the wealth of its laity; therefore Catholics were mired in poverty and ignorance which cost them their freedom and their souls.”5 In the post-revolutionary era rational thought and self-government emerged as prized values for the new citizenry. Because Catholics supported the pope and relied on priests to interpret scriptures, Protestants believed Catholics failed the single largest litmus test for citizenship in the new America. In the post-Revolutionary era the question over Catholics’ ability to be part of the new national identity took on a new dimension. As the nation developed a distinctive identity, concerns emerged over whether or not greater personal freedom would mean a decline in church attendance and a dip in individual morality. With preachers like Charles Finney and Lyman Beecher sparking an evangelical revival, Americans turned increasingly to Protestantism during the Second Great Awakening. Taking the Methodists as an example, itinerant preachers, grounding their teachings in the new scientific discovery of the era while still employing fire and brimstone images drew converts rapidly. In 1810 there were 175,000 Methodists; by 1850 1,247,000 6 Methodists. In the single decade between 1810 and 1820 the numbers increased by 168 4 Francis D. Cogliano, No King, No Popery: Anti-Catholicism in Revolutionary New England (Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996), 5-18. Republished with permission as the article Exposing the Idolatry of the Romanish Church: Anti-popery and Colonial New England, in Robert R. Mathisen, Critical Issues in American Religious History: A Reader, (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2001), 69. 5 Ibid. 6 Daniel Howe, What God Hath Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 178 Hahn 5 percent.7 And these itinerate preachers eventually settled down, creating church communities that responded to issues of everyday life. At the time of the Revolution there were 50 Methodist congregations in the United States, by the time of the Civil War there were 20,000.8 The Methodists were not the only evangelical Protestant group that saw a rise in membership during the post-Revolutionary era. Rather they were one of many that dominated religious life in America. Catherine Brekus in her essay Interpreting American Religion notes that Robert Baird wrote the first major history of nineteenth century religion in America in 1844. He noted that “constitutional separation of church and state had not weakened American Churches but, on the contrary, strengthened them.”9 Baird contended that rather than harm religious dedication, the freedoms and personal liberties inherent in the new American experience created greater opportunities for religious choice. Baird surveyed the religious landscape and divided the vast number of religious groups into two categories; evangelical and unevangelical. “According to his interpretation, the evangelical churches were responsible for the best features of American life.”10 He noted that they were responsible for a number of social reforms and were dedicated to educating non-believers, teaching children the Bible, and caring for the poor and orphaned. In contrast he saw all non-Protestants (unevangelicals) as rejecting what he called the true Christianity.