DOCSLIB.ORG

A History of Religious Education in American Catholic High Schools, 1929-1969

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A History of Religious Education in American Catholic High Schools, 1929-1969 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Texts and Contexts: A History of Religious Education in American Catholic High Schools, 1929-1969 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Susan White Baumert Washington, D.C. 2013 Texts and Contexts: A History of Religious Education in American Catholic High Schools, 1929-1969 Susan White Baumert, Ph.D. Director: Christopher J. Kauffman, Ph.D. Religious education in Catholic high schools underwent dramatic changes in the United States over the course of the twentieth century. Between 1929 and 1969, Catholic priests, women religious, and lay leaders affiliated with various movements wrote significant religion textbooks that were widely circulated and often departed from the traditional question-and-answer structure common to the Baltimore Catechism. Each chapter of this dissertation highlights a thematic context and its influence on religion textbooks. This study contributes to the history of American Catholic life by examining this highly transformative period of religious education in the United States. In the late 1920s, religion books, which were precursors to religion textbooks, were popular in Catholic high schools. They sought to make the catechism more applicable to students’ lives by de-emphasizing memorization and stressing character development. However, textbooks inspired by popular Church movements soon replaced them. Catholic Action leaders wrote textbooks in the 1930s and 40s that sought to restore the Kingdom of Christ through the theology of personalism and the Mystical Body of Christ. At the same time, leaders of the Liturgical Movement wrote textbooks that encouraged students to participate actively in the liturgy. In the 1950s and early 1960s, leaders of the Kerygmatic Movement brought an integrated message of divine grace based on salvation history, the liturgy, Scripture, and the proclamation of the Gospel. Finally, religion textbooks in the mid- and late 1960s were influenced by the anthropological and political stages of the Catechetical Movement, as well as Liberation Theology and the reinterpretation of Divine Revelation. Hence, this dissertation reflects the changing texts and contexts of religious education in the mid-twentieth century. This dissertation by Susan White Baumert fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Church History approved by Christopher J. Kauffman, Ph.D., as Director, and by William D. Dinges, Ph.D., and Sandra Yocum, Ph.D., as Readers. __________________________________________ Christopher J. Kauffman, Ph.D., Director __________________________________________ William D. Dinges, Ph.D., Reader __________________________________________ Sandra Yocum, Ph.D., Reader ii In gratitude to my husband, Stephen, Whose love brought me closer to Christ That our lives might bear much fruit together. (John 15:5) iii CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 1. From “Catechism Alone” to “Religion Books”: 6 Early Twentieth-century Advances in Catholic Religious Education (1929-1934) Chapter 2. The Restoration of the Kingdom of Christ: 41 Catholic Action and the Mystical Body of Christ (1929-1936) Chapter 3. Full and Active Participation: The Liturgical Movement 103 and the Christ-Life in Religious Education (1929-1946) Chapter 4. The Core of the Christian Message: The Catechetical Movement, 157 the Kerygma and Proclaiming the Good News (1936-1961) Chapter 5. Beyond the Kerygma: Vatican II, Revelation, 208 and the International Catechetical Study Weeks (1962-1969) CONCLUSION 283 APPENDIX 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY 294 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACUA American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives, Catholic University of America CCD Confraternity of Christian Doctrine CEA (National) Catholic Educational Association NCEA National Catholic Education Association NCWC National Catholic War Council (later) National Catholic Welfare Council Specialized Catholic Action: JEC or YCS Young Christian Students JAC Young Christian Farmers JIC Young Christian Independents JOC or YCW Young Christian Workers JUC Young Christian University students SLU St. Louis University UND University of Notre Dame v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the assistance, encouragement, and guidance of many friends, colleagues, and family members who supported me in the present study, particularly Stephen Baumert, PhD, my beloved husband, to whom this work is dedicated. Thank you for watching the boys all those nights and weekends, for sharing in the journey of writing with me, and for your unconditional love and support. I thank my sons, Jonah and Benjamin, for their smiles and laughter, and for reminding mommy of the more important things in life. I also thank my parents, Steve and Jane White, for their love and financial support over my many years of education, and my brothers, Steve Jr., Chandler, and Marc, with their families, for their encouragement in all my endeavors. To the many close friends who are too numerous to name: thank you for lifting my spirits and encouraging me along the way. I wish to recognize the assistance of my advisor and mentor, Christopher J. Kauffman, PhD, for editing and guiding the work in its form and content; Rev. Jacques Gres-Gayer, for his direction of the Church History program at The Catholic University of America throughout my coursework; and the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, for providing a research assistantship for three years of my graduate studies, which helped to make this degree possible. I thank my readers for their time and service: Sandra Yocum, PhD, of the University of Dayton, for her advice in the crucial early stages of this project and for providing perspective throughout, and William Dinges, PhD, for his keen eye and encouragement in writing. I thank Geraldine Laird, for the countless hours she spent vi reading and proofreading the entire manuscript, and Rev. Frederick Miller, of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, for sharing his ideas and experiences. I am grateful to all of my professors who guided my appreciation of the history of the Catholic Church. I thank the archivists of the religious orders too numerous to mention, whose willingness to share their hidden treasures helped to bring my research to life. Finally, I thank Rev. Anthony V. DeCandia of the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina. You were my first interpreter of the Catholic faith. Thank you for teaching me about the beauty of the Church’s teachings as an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Your willingness to follow God’s call for your life changed the path of my own. vii INTRODUCTION Religion textbooks are a unique resource for historical analysis. They reflect contemporary trends in pedagogy, theology, and religious education. They represent the efforts of individuals, or the collaboration of a few individuals, committed to improving religious education for young people. Although earlier studies have explored elementary religion textbooks,1 the present analysis focuses principally on the more advanced theology behind Catholic high-school religion textbooks.2 This study consists of five chapters that examine a selection of prominent Catholic high-school religion textbooks published between 1929 and 1969 and the underlying movements that influenced them. It is important to stress some of the contents of these books because they have never received scholarly study. The first chapter assesses how the Munich Method brought improvements to religious education, which resulted in the development of religion books in the 1920s. In this early phase of the Catechetical Movement, Rev. Wilhelm Pichler, a German religious educator, suggested the writing of religion books. These books followed the outline of the catechism, but they also included stories and psychological adaptations for the various elementary grades. They stressed the importance of understanding the “Creed, Cult, and Code.” While high-school religion books lacked integration (each grade studied one 1Mary Charles Bryce, “The Influence of the Catechism of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore on Widely Used Elementary Religion Text Books from its Composition in 1885 to its 1941 Revision,” (PhD diss., The Catholic University of America, 1970). 2A limited number of elementary textbooks are analyzed for contrast and depth in chapters 1 and 3. 1 2 aspect of Catholicism) and stressed the deductive reasoning of Neo-Scholasticism, they responded to the psychological approach of the Munich Method by emphasizing character development. Chapter two focuses on the work of Catholic Action in the 1920s and 30s, a movement originally from Belgium that was first based on the work of Canon Joseph Cardign, founder of the Jeunesse Ouvriere Chretienne (JOC). Cardign responded to papal wishes for the development of an apostolic youth movement. The result was Specialized Catholic Action, which stressed like-to-like forms of identity and influence, encouraging students to connect with other students and to seek new ways to overcome problems in society and to evangelize the world for Christ. This movement was based upon three principles: personalism, the Mystical Body of Christ, and the spirituality of the Liturgical Movement. The Catholic Action series of textbooks written by Rev. Raymond J. Campion and Ellamay Horan, PhD, sought to teach students
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jocist Movement and CFM See--Judge--Act--How Young
    Jocist Movement and CFM See--Judge--Act--How young Christian Workers Renewed the Church. This article from "Salt of the Earth" magazine by Meinrad Scherer-Edmunds explains the work of Joseph Cardijn and origins of the Jocist movement which developed into CFM in the United States. See -- Judge -- Act: How Young Christian Workers Renewed the Church by Meirad Scherer-Edmunds, Salt of the Earth The night before 13-year-old Joseph Cardijn was to leave for his first day of work in the factory, he mustered the courage to ask his father a question he'd been mulling over for a long time: "Papa, can I carry on with my studies?" That request came as something of a shock to Cardijn's parents, who had counted on him, the oldest son, to finally help support the struggling family. But Cardijn continued, "I feel that God is calling me, I want to become a priest." His parents, deeply religious, agreed to make further sacrifices to help their son pursue his call. So while his peers in the small Belgian town of Hal went off to work in the area's factories, Cardijn continued his schooling and in the following year, 1896, entered the minor seminary at nearby Malines. When the boarding-school student came back home for the holidays he found his friends' attitudes toward him greatly changed. "I could see then how my old playmates -- better chaps than I, often enough -- had given up even going to church after a few months at work. Just because I was studying to be a priest, they looked upon me as an enemy.
    [Show full text]
  • Pastoral Circle January Refresher
    PASTORALCIRCLE January 2019 [email protected] JANUARY AS A JV The Basics: Jesuit Volunteers are encouraged to sit in reflection about the encounters they have had thus far and to examine why situations occur as they do, why are people experiencing what they do? Jesuit Volunteers are asked to explore racial identity and racial justice as a lens to do social analysis and theological reflection. What does it mean to take on an Ignatian approach of a “faith that does justice” and explore the ways the Catholic, Jesuit tradition supports the work of justice -- e.g. Catholic Social Teaching, Scripture and other elements of the tradition. PASTORAL CIRCLE A refresher: Reflect back to Orientation where the pastoral circle is offered up as a resource and framework for moving about your JV experience. Continue to seek new insights and reflections on the pastoral circle, with an emphasis on the discernment element of “judge.” And think through what the "action” draws out within you. For "action" emphasizes that the fruit of reflection and discernment is “right action,” and that JVs have a responsibility to put their faith into action. In previous years, the emphasis has been on legislative advocacy. JVs are invited to consider this, as well as other ways that they can take action. BABIES IN A RIVER PARABLE One way to consider how the Pastoral Circle is actualized is to recall the story of babies in the river... Once upon a time, there was a small village on the edge of a river. Life in the village was busy. There were people growing food and people teaching the children to make blankets and people making meals.
    [Show full text]
  • Church and Theology in the Modernist Crisis
    CHURCH AND THEOLOGY IN THE MODERNIST CRISIS The first task that our subject presents us with is one of definition. According to the encyclical Pascendí dominici gregis published by Pius X in September 1907, modernism is a coherent system. Although it manifests itself in a variety of spheres and disciplines, the key to its strength and its destructiveness is its philosophy. Its two basic doctrines are "agnosticism" and "vital immanence." Their implica- tions count for most of what is distinctive in modernist theology, history, biblical criticism and apologetics. What helps to make the proponents of this system "the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church'" is the fact that they operate not outside but within the community of faith. They include priests and members of religious orders and they present themselves to the unwary as Church reformers. They claim to form no coherent movement but to be responding as conscientious individuals to con- temporary needs and scholarly developments. In fact, however, the encyclical ar- gues, their theories consist "in a closely connected whole, so that it is not possible to admit one without admitting all." The system represents "the synthesis of all heresies." It means "the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion."2 There can be no doubt about the seriousness with which the authors of the en- cyclical view the movement. It threatens "to destroy the vital energy of the Church" and "to subvert the very Kingdom of Christ."3 The pope's pastoral re- sponsibilities and in particular his task of guarding the deposit of faith do not allow him to remain silent.
    [Show full text]
  • A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO PUBLIC CATHOLICISM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN AMERICA: THE ADAPTATION OF A RELIGIOUS CULTURE TO THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF DIVERSITY, AND ITS IMPLICATIONS A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Michael J. Agliardo, SJ Committee in charge: Professor Richard Madsen, Chair Professor John H. Evans Professor David Pellow Professor Joel Robbins Professor Gershon Shafir 2008 Copyright Michael J. Agliardo, SJ, 2008 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Michael Joseph Agliardo is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2008 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents......................................................................................................................iv List Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................vi List of Graphs ......................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................. viii Vita.............................................................................................................................................x
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Cardijn Studies: on the Church in the World Today; Lay Movements As Structures of Grace, Part One
    The Journal of Social Encounters Volume 5 Issue 1 Article 18 Review of Cardijn Studies: On the Church in the World Today; Lay Movements as Structures of Grace, Part One Bill Droel The National Center for the Laity Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/social_encounters Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, and the Politics and Social Change Commons Recommended Citation Droel, Bill () "Review of Cardijn Studies: On the Church in the World Today; Lay Movements as Structures of Grace, Part One," The Journal of Social Encounters: Vol. 5: Iss. 1, 93-94. Available at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/social_encounters/vol5/iss1/18 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Journal of Social Encounters by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Journal of Social Encounters Book Review: Cardijn Studies: On the Church in the World Today; Lay Movements as Structures of Grace, Part One Bill Droel* The National Center for the Laity Chicago, IL Cardijn Studies: On the Church in the World Today; Lay Movements as Structures of Grace, Part One. Stefan Gigacz, editor. Adelaide, Australia: ATF Press, 2018. Paper, 73 pp., $34.95 AUD, $23.77 USA, ISBN 978-1-925679-44-1. This issue of the Cardijn Studies Journal contains talks from a July 2018 conference at Mt. St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio on the legacy of Cardinal Joseph Leo Cardijn (1882-1967) of Belgium.
    [Show full text]
  • Solidarity and Mediation in the French Stream Of
    SOLIDARITY AND MEDIATION IN THE FRENCH STREAM OF MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST THEOLOGY Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theology By Timothy R. Gabrielli Dayton, Ohio December 2014 SOLIDARITY AND MEDIATION IN THE FRENCH STREAM OF MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST THEOLOGY Name: Gabrielli, Timothy R. APPROVED BY: _________________________________________ William L. Portier, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor _________________________________________ Dennis M. Doyle, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Anthony J. Godzieba, Ph.D. Outside Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Vincent J. Miller, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Sandra A. Yocum, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Daniel S. Thompson, Ph.D. Chairperson ii © Copyright by Timothy R. Gabrielli All rights reserved 2014 iii ABSTRACT SOLIDARITY MEDIATION IN THE FRENCH STREAM OF MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST THEOLOGY Name: Gabrielli, Timothy R. University of Dayton Advisor: William L. Portier, Ph.D. In its analysis of mystical body of Christ theology in the twentieth century, this dissertation identifies three major streams of mystical body theology operative in the early part of the century: the Roman, the German-Romantic, and the French-Social- Liturgical. Delineating these three streams of mystical body theology sheds light on the diversity of scholarly positions concerning the heritage of mystical body theology, on its mid twentieth-century recession, as well as on Pope Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical, Mystici Corporis Christi, which enshrined “mystical body of Christ” in Catholic magisterial teaching. Further, it links the work of Virgil Michel and Louis-Marie Chauvet, two scholars remote from each other on several fronts, in the long, winding French stream.
    [Show full text]
  • Dignitatis Humanae and the Development of Moral Doctrine: Assessing Change in Catholic Social Teaching on Religious Liberty
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Dignitatis humanae and the Development of Moral Doctrine: Assessing Change in Catholic Social Teaching on Religious Liberty A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Barrett Hamilton Turner Washington, D.C 2015 Dignitatis humanae and the Development of Moral Doctrine: Assessing Change in Catholic Social Teaching on Religious Liberty Barrett Hamilton Turner, Ph.D. Director: Joseph E. Capizzi, Ph.D. Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis humanae (DH), poses the problem of development in Catholic moral and social doctrine. This problem is threefold, consisting in properly understanding the meaning of pre-conciliar magisterial teaching on religious liberty, the meaning of DH itself, and the Declaration’s implications for how social doctrine develops. A survey of recent scholarship reveals that scholars attend to the first two elements in contradictory ways, and that their accounts of doctrinal development are vague. The dissertation then proceeds to the threefold problematic. Chapter two outlines the general parameters of doctrinal development. The third chapter gives an interpretation of the pre- conciliar teaching from Pius IX to John XXIII. To better determine the meaning of DH, the fourth chapter examines the Declaration’s drafts and the official explanatory speeches (relationes) contained in Vatican II’s Acta synodalia. The fifth chapter discusses how experience may contribute to doctrinal development and proposes an explanation for how the doctrine on religious liberty changed, drawing upon the work of Jacques Maritain and Basile Valuet.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacrorum Antistitum (September 1, 1910)
    Theological Studies 71 (2010) SWEARING AGAINST MODERNISM: SACRORUM ANTISTITUM (SEPTEMBER 1, 1910) C. J. T. TALAR The historiography of Modernism has concentrated on the doctrinal issues raised by partisans of reform and their condemnation, to the relative neglect of social and political aspects. Where such connec- tions have been made the linkage has often been extrinsic: those involved in social and political reform subscribed to theses articu- lated by historical critics and critical philosophers. The connections, however, run deeper, reaching into issues surrounding authority and autonomy, ecclesiastical control of not only Catholic intellectual life but also Catholic political and social activity. This article revisits the Oath against Modernism and brings these connections into sharper resolution. “The atmosphere created by Modernism is far from being completely dissipated.”1 T MAY WELL HAVE BEEN THE CASE, given the defects of human nature Iand the effects of original sin, that ecclesiastics on more than one occa- sion violated the second commandment when they considered the effects of Roman Catholic Modernism. The reference to the motu proprio Sacrorum antistitum in my subtitle, however, indicates that a different kind of swear- ing is of interest here. As its centerpiece, the motu proprio promulgated an Oath against Modernism, prefaced by the republication, textually, of the final, disciplinary section of the antimodernist encyclical, Pascendi dominici gregis. Following the oath was an instruction originally addressed in 1894 to the bishops of Italy and to the superiors of religious congregations C. J. T. TALAR received his Ph.D. in sociology from the Catholic University of America and his S.T.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Marcin Karas INTEGRYZM BRACTWA KAPŁAŃSKIEGO ŚW. PIUSA X
    INTEGRYZM BRACTWA KAPŁAŃSKIEGO ŚW. PIUSA X <8> SOCIETAS seria pod redakcją BOGDANA SZLACHTY 9 Marcin Karas INTEGRYZM BRACTWA KAPŁAŃSKIEGO ŚW. PIUSA X HISTORIA I DOKTRYNA RZYMSKOKATOLICKIEGO RUCHU TRADYCJONALISTYCZNEGO [tl AKADEMICKA Kraków 2008 Copyright by Marcin Karas, Kraków 2008 Recenzenci: prof, dr hab. Stanisław Obirek prof, dr hab. Jan Skoczyński Redakcja: Marta Stęplewska Korekta: Agnieszka Kutylak-Hapanowicz Projekt okładki: Paweł Sepielak Skład i łamanie: Małgorzata Manterys Na okładce wykorzystano zdjęcie przedstawiające abpa, Marcela Lefebvre’a głoszącego kazanie podczas obchodów 20-tej rocznicy powstania Bractwa Kapłańskiego św. Piusa X, dn. 29 kwietnia 1990 r., w Hali Międzynarodowych Targów nad Jeziorem Bodeńskim (Internationale Bodenseemesse - IBO) w Friedrichshafen, Badenia-Wirtembergia, Niemcy. Książka dofinansowana przez Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego ISBN 978-83-7188-067-4 KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA ul. św. Anny 6, 31-008 Kraków tel. /faks: 012 431-27-43, 012 663-11-67 e-mail: akademicka@akademicka. pl Księgarnia internetowa: www. akademicka. pl Spis treści: Wprowadzenie................................................................................................................................... 7 I. Historia ruchu integrystycznego................................................................................................9 1. Przemiany w Kościele w drugiej połowie XX w. ..................................................................9 2. Historia Bractwa Kapłańskiego św. Piusa X.........................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • The Implementation of the Encyclical Pascendi Outline and Background of a Project
    The Reception and Application of the Encyclical Pascendi The Reports of the Diocesan Bishops and the Superiors of the Religious Orders until 1914 edited by Claus Arnold and Giovanni Vian The Implementation of the Encyclical Pascendi Outline and Background of a Project Claus Arnold (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Deutschland) Giovanni Vian (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Summary 1 The Concept of ‘Modernism’. – 2 The Measures Against ‘Modernism’. – 3 The Place of the Project in the Historiography on ‘Modernism’. – 4 Immediate Reactions to Pascendi. Keywords Modernism. Pius X. The name of the “conservative reform Pope” Pius X (1903-1904)1 has been linked to a ‘modernizing’ increase in efficiency of the Roman Curia and of the entire pastoral organisation of the catholic Church – with a decidedly anti-modern tendency.2 With the goal of a Christian restauration of society (Omnia instaurare in Christo; Eph 1:10), the Pope ‘reformed’ especially the church of Italy by implementing a rigorous visitation.3 Not content with the slow workings of the Roman Congregations of Index and Inquisition, Pius X envisioned new ways of control also for the church around the world in his fight against ‘modernism’.The pope’s Encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis,4 which appeared in September 1907, defined ‘modernism’ as the sum of all heresies, a kind of super-heresy of modernity.5 1 Aubert, “Pius X.”. 2 Cf. Fantappiè, Chiesa Romana e Modernità Giuridica, and the criticism by Vian, “Pio X grande riformatore?”. 3 Vian, La riforma della Chiesa. 4 On the making of Pascendi see Arnold, “Antimodernismo e magistero romano”.
    [Show full text]
  • Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem Solemnly Promulgated by His Holiness, Pope Paul Vi on November 18, 1965
    DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS, POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965 INTRODUCTION 1. To intensify the apostolic activity of the people of God,(1) the most holy synod earnestly addresses itself to the laity, whose proper and indispensable role in the mission of the Church has already been dealt with in other documents.(2) The apostolate of the laity derives from their Christian vocation and the Church can never be without it. Sacred Scripture clearly shows how spontaneous and fruitful such activity was at the very beginning of the Church (cf. Acts 11:19-21; 18:26; Rom. 16:1-16; Phil. 4:3). Our own times require of the laity no less zeal: in fact, modern conditions demand that their apostolate be broadened and intensified. With a constantly increasing population, continual progress in science and technology, and closer interpersonal relationships, the areas for the lay apostolate have been immensely widened particularly in fields that have been for the most part open to the laity alone. These factors have also occasioned new problems which demand their expert attention and study. This apostolate becomes more imperative in view of the fact that many areas of human life have become increasingly autonomous. This is as it should be, but it sometimes involves a degree of departure from the ethical and religious order and a serious danger to Christian life. Besides, in many places where priests are very few or, in some instances, deprived of due freedom for priestly work, the Church could scarcely exist and function without the activity of the laity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Church and Work
    The Church and Work Dorothy Day The Catholic Worker, September 1946, 1,3,7,8. Summary: Discusses in length the modern industrial problem of the machine and its relation to factory, land and worker. Explains the C.W.’s attempt to gain the workers back to Christ, by explicating a philosophy of work that distinguishes between those machines that are the extended hand of man and those that make man the extended hand of the machine. Such a philosophy sees people as cooperating with their creator, and to labor is to pray. Criticizes American Catholics for not applying Papal teaching to the work area and shows a particular acrimony to a priest who tell workers to sanctify their surroundings instead of changing it. (DDLW #154). I have before me Canon Cardijn’s pamphlet, “The Spirit of the Young Christian Workers,” and on Page 21 of that pamphlet he says: “It is useless to steer clear of the vital and therefore most difficult problems under the pretext of Catholic Unity.” So I shall try to write about most difficult and vital things such as the factory and the land, and the workers. Catholic Action The Catholic Worker is not part of Catholic Action as such, having no Mandate from the Hierarchy for this work. It is lay activity, so well described by Maritain in his book, TRUE HUMANISM. The ACTU (ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC TRADE UNIONISTS), the YOUNG CHRISTIAN WORKERS, THE CATHOLIC ACTION CELLS that are springing up all through Manhattan and Brooklyn, are definitely part of CATHOLIC ACTION . There are Chaplains in charge, and whether the work is in the guise of CYO (CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION) or YCW, it is the attempt to reach the workers, to try to gain back the workers to Christ.
    [Show full text]