Dissertation Abstracts

Institution	Title	Page
Arizona State University	Irish Priests and Mexicans in Arizona: The Diocese of Tucson, 1945-1970	96
Fordham University	Challenging the Catholic Church: Constructing a Social Ethics of Racial Solidarity	96
Northwestern University	Breaking the Silence: The Catholic Sexual Abuse Survivor Movement in Chicago	97
Northwestern University	Catholicism Remixed: Catholic Prayer and the Making of Millennial Catholic Subjectivity	98
University of Dayton	Enacting Theology, Americanism, and Friendship: The 1837 Debate on Roman Catholicism between Alexander Campbell and Bishop John Purcell	99
University of Nevada (Las Vegas)	Reviving a Spirit of Controversy: Roman Catholics and the Pursuit of Religious Freedom in Early America	99
University of New Hampshire	Beyond Boston: Catholicism in the Northern New England Borderlands in the Nineteenth Century	100
University of New Mexico	Conflict, Tension, Strength: The History of St. Paul’s Mission, St. Labre Indian School, and St. Stephens Indian School, 1884-present	101
University of Pittsburgh	“Pray, pay and disobey”: Conflict and Schism in Catholic America, 1870-1939	102

We include here selected dissertation abstracts in the fields of U.S. Catholic history, sociology, theology, architecture, art, cinema, music, popular movements, and related areas that we believe our readers will find to be of particular interest. Those interested in submitting an abstract for possible publication in the dissertation section of American Catholic Studies should do so electronically to americancatholicstudies@villanova.edu in Microsoft Word format.

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Cunningham, John, Irish Priests and Mexicans in Arizona: The Diocese of Tucson, 1945-1970. Arizona State University, ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 3701009.

This dissertation examines the encounter of a large cadre of 103 Roman Catholic priests from Ireland and their Mexican parishioners. Scholars have not explored this rich historical juncture. This is the first study to do so. Primary and secondary sources, as well as numerous oral history interviews provide the evidence that supports the thesis that the Irish priests and the Mexican people shared something of a common consciousness, resulting from similar histories, worldviews, and cultural values. This counters the prevailing scholarly opinion which excoriates Euroamerican churchmen of that time for misunderstanding and neglecting their Hispanic flock. Standing apart in this respect, most priests from Ireland – unlike clergy from other backgrounds--were sympathetic to folk traditions and experienced a synergy with Mexican people which enabled them to adapt and learn from Hispanic communities.

Yet for all that Irish priests and Mexicans shared in common, these pastors failed to see or at least address the social, economic, and ecclesiastical discrimination which Mexicans daily experienced or challenge the systems which kept them subservient. Paradoxically, these clergy accepted Mexican people, but they also accepted the racist structures which marginalized them. This historical moment is unique for two reasons. In the mid-twentieth century Irish-born priests were ubiquitous and constituted the largest number of Catholic missionaries in the world. Today there are scarcely enough priests to supply the parishes of Ireland. Similarly, in the mid-twentieth century Mexicanos and Mexican Americans were almost without exception Catholic.

Today this can no longer be taken for granted. These shifts presage the end of an era for the Church in Arizona. Nationally, they correspond to the denouement of long-standing U.S. Irish ecclesiastical establishment and herald the ascendancy of an Hispanic Catholic Church. In reconstructing this history salient themes emerge: ethnicity, religion (official/popular), power relations, prejudice/discrimination, and the discovery of common ground amid differences. This matrix gives rise to a complex crisscrossing of trajectories of Catholics and Protestants (in society), Irish and Mexican Catholics (in the church), priest and parishioners (in the parish). It holds lessons for the future.

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

Stevens, Krista Leeann, Challenging the Catholic Church: Constructing a Social Ethics of Racial Solidarity. Fordham University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 3719475.

Lost in the din of segregationist fervor of 1950s Alabama, is the largely unknown story of Spring Hill College, a Jesuit college in Mobile that quietly began integrating its classes in 1954. The SHC story is an American story, a Catholic story, and a Jesuit story that offers a unique glimpse into the interplay of history and theology in the middle of the twentieth century. The story of SHC’s...