The American Catholic Revolution How the Sixties Changed the Church Forever

by Massa, S.J., Mark S.

• ISBN13: 9780199734122
• ISBN10: 0199734127
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Second Vatican Council enacted the most sweeping changes the Catholic Church had seen in centuries. In the United States, it launched a war--a series of cultural clashes that Mark Massa calls the ''Catholic Sixties.'' The first stirrings of upheaval took place in the pews. Changes to the mass were felt immediately and viscerally by the faithful. Suddenly, one Sunday, the mass as they had always known it was different, and so was the Church they had believed was timeless and unchanging. Once the Church opened the door to change, Massa argues, it could not be closed again. Skirmishes broke out over the proper way to worship. Soon, Catholics were bitterly divided over birth control, abortion, celibacy, female priests, and the authority of the Church itself. These battles were waged within the Church, but they mirrored and shaped the larger conflicts in American society. In readable and compelling prose, Massa tells the story of Vatican II and the culture war it ignited--a war that is still being waged as fiercely as ever.

Author Biography

Mark S. Massa, SJ, is Karl Rahner Professor of Theology and Director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, at Fordham University, as well as the author of Anti-Catholicism in America and other books.

Table of Contents

Preface: "Something Irreversible Has Happended,"	p. xi
A Brief History Catholic Time	p. 1
Frederick McManus and Worship in the United States	p. 15
Humanae Vitae in the United States	p. 29
The Charles Curran Affair	p. 49
The Dangers of Hisotry	p. 75
"Death Shall Have No Dominion!"	p. 103
Avery Dulles and the Law of Unintended Consequences	p. 129
Things Change	p. 147
Acknowledgments	p. 163
Notes	p. 165
Index	p. 189
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