Cross, Crozier, and Crucible: A Volume Celebrating the Bicentennial of a Catholic Diocese in Louisiana ed. by Glenn R. Conrad (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 291 Cross, Crozier, and Crucible: A Volume Celebrating the Bicentennial of a Catholic Diocese in Louisiana. Edited by General Editor Glenn R. Conrad. (Lafayette, Louisiana: The Archdiocese ofNew Orleans in cooperation with the Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana. 1993. Pp. xxxii,683. $35.00.) As the title suggests, this work was put together to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of a Catholic diocese in Louisiana. The general editor, Glenn Conrad, was assisted by five associate editors, namely, Earl F. Niehaus, Alfred E. LemmonJ. Edgar Bruns, Emilie Dietrich Griffin, and Charles Nolan. Each of the editors helped in organizing and bringing the project to completion in addition to writing some of the individual essays. The book is divided into six sections. In all, thirty-nine contributors either researched or wrote the forty-six essays (including section introductions) in the volume. Part I looks at the ethnic breakdown of Louisiana historically. Part II examines the role of bishops and the growth of missions within the state. Part III analyzes efforts at evangelization and education, while Part IV concentrates on looking at specific individuals and movements and their contributions to Louisiana Catholicism. Finally, Part V explores the richness of Catholicism in Louisiana's fine arts, while Part VI provides an extensive bibliographical essay. The book concludes with an epilogue written by Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb, in which he provides his personal prognosis for Louisiana Catholicism based on the book's title, Cross, Crozier, and Crucible. Undoubtedly, the book attempts to look at practically every aspect of the Louisiana Catholic Church within the last 200 years. In evaluating Cross, Crozier, and Crucible, the most outstanding characteristic of this work is its size. At 683 pages with a chronology, a briefphoto essay, an appendix on bishops and archbishops of Louisiana, and an index, the book is massive. Its coverage of relevant topics is good. Some of the essays are well done, especially Earl Niehaus on blacks and Catholics, Elisabeth Joan Doyle on the Catholic Press in Louisiana, Patricia Lynch on Mother Katharine Drexel's rural schools, and Boniface Adams on the Holy Family Sisters. Charles Nolan's bibliographical essay is more than a starting point for anyone interested in the Louisiana Catholic Church. Moreover, the book's approach offers an interesting perspective on the Catholic Church. Here, the editors not only decided to take a general overview of what was developing in the Church's history, but they also emphasized the importance of the individual as a person and/or movement as well. The chapters on James Thomas Nix by Rosary Hartel and Al and Patti Mansfield's essay on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Louisiana reflect this quite effectively. Nevertheless, just as the book has its strengths, there are some weaknesses too. It is not surprising that there is a basic "uneven" quality in the essays. There tends to be more of an emphasis on the earlier periods of Catholicism's development in Louisiana even though authors generally talked of the paucity of sources available. Ironically, despite its comprehensiveness, the book offers lit- 292 BOOK REVIEWS tie statistical information on Louisiana Catholicism. The editors really could have helped those interested in Louisiana Catholicism had they provided such information. And lastly, the book does not address the important issue of placing Louisiana Catholicism in the context of Southern Catholicism or Catholicism in general. Still, despite these shortcomings, Cross, Crozier, and Crucible is a factual goldmine for anyone interested in how the Catholic Church developed in Louisiana over the last 200 years. Michael V. Namorato University ofMississippi At Peace withAll Their Neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the National Capital, 1787-1860. By William W. Warner. (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 1994. Pp. xi, 307. $29.95.) It is not unusual for an author to exceed his mandate, but in this case what began as a history of a single parish by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Beautiful Swimmers was transformed in the doing into a sweeping retrospective of regional Catholic history during the nation's first half-century. Attention to Holy Trinity, the oldest parish in the District of Columbia, pretty much ends at Chapter Two; the...