The Mid-nineteenth Century The Mid-20th Century American Catholic Localization Issues

As one of the largest denominations in modern United States, American Catholicism bears an influence that is only second to Protestantism. The Catholic Church, backed up by its remarkable wealth, to a large extent shapes the policy-making process at all levels as well as the moral value and political orientations of over 60 million followers. However, the growth or prevailing of American Catholicism is by no means a smooth and instant one. Rather, it is accompanied by the self-reformation designed to adapt the Catholicism itself to the local circumstance. That is what we call the "localization" of American Catholicism hi this thesis.Over the course of centuries since the mass immigration of Catholics hi the early 19th century, two interrelated but distinct themes need to be heeded in the localization of American Catholicism. That is, the acculturation of the clergy and the assimilation of the laymen. The difference between the two themes provides different perspectives in analyzing the issue of localization. Briefly put, the acculturation of the clergymen is largely identified with the localization of the Catholic Church, which is the primary mechanism for the implementation of reforms and innovations; by contrast, the latter is identified with the practice-based immigrant communities whose form of material and spiritual life are closely patterned after the mainstream culture they encountered.This paper is a review and analysis to the localization of American Catholicism as it emerged mostly in the period between the mid-19th century and the 1960s, hi the preface, the author explained the norm of "localization" and summarized the previous argument on this issue. The main body of the thesis comes in three parts.Part one: The immigrant experience and the localization of Catholicism, hi this part, the author dealt with: 1 .The large-scale immigration of Catholics in the 19th century. 2. Irish immigrants and the growth of AmericanIVCatholicism. 3.The first attempts in localization made by American Catholic Church.Part two: Characteristics of the American Catholic Church in the early 20th century. Including: l.The fonnation of Catholic political culture in United States. 2.The localization of nationality churches.Part three: The development and evolution of Catholic theology under the American circumstance. Including: 1. The three levels of modem Catholic theology. 2. The new-scholarism in American Catholicism. 3. The liturgical movement in 1920s.