A Church of Two Steeples: Catholicism, Labor, and Ethnicity in Industrial New England, 1869–90

Drawing evidence from militant ethnic newspapers, historians have long known of conflict between Irish Americans and the French Canadians of New England in the nineteenth century. Alternative sources now bring greater clarity to this multifaceted struggle. Diocesan correspondence and documents from press outlets unassociated with the two communities further emphasize French Canadians’ attempts to resist assimilationist forces but better define the source of such assimilationist sentiments. Whereas the Irish working class aimed to integrate the new Catholic element into a labor movement that it largely controlled, Irish American bishops recognized that the Church’s institutional interests demanded cultural accommodation.