Many Tongues, One Faith: A History of Franciscan Parish Life in the United States

by David J. Endres

Overview

The history of Franciscan parishes in the United States mirrors the social, religious and cultural shifts brought about by repeated waves of immigrants to the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This study offers a glimpse into the struggles of Franciscan priests, sisters, and laity attempting to live out their faith amidst the challenges of the time: religious bigotry, racial and ethnic strife, and cultural and religious challenges. The Franciscan experience provides an important element in the tapestry of the American experience. Readers of this work will learn about the Franciscan priest who persuaded his fellow Polish immigrants to engage in an ill-fated settlement experiment in Texas. They will learn about Franciscan efforts to evangelize Native Americans, the Menominee at Keshena, Wisconsin, utilizing catechetical material in the natives' language. Readers will become acquainted with one of the first Italian churches in New York City, St. Anthony of Padua, where a multiethnic parish gave rise to disputes over leadership in the community. In Los Angeles, the parish of St. Lawrence of Brindisi is highlighted, providing an exploration of ministry to an impoverished community located near the epicenter of the 1965 Watts riots. And readers will be transported to the serene setting of rural northern Ohio where a Marian shrine has been the site of dozens of claimed miraculous healings. While the portraits of fourteen Franciscan parishes contained in this work are diverse – geographically, ethnically, and chronologically – they collectively witness to the distinctiveness of the Franciscan charism of embracing poverty, fostering community, offering reconciliation, and serving those on society's margins. Their story is part of the American story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780883822685
Publisher:	The Catholic University of America Press
Publication date:	03/23/2018
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

David J. Endres, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, is dean of the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary's Seminary and editor of U.S. Catholic Historian

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface ix

Introduction: Immigrant Stories: U.S. Franciscans and Their Parishes 1

Diverse Ministry: The Many Identities of Franciscan Parishes 6

I The Old World Meets the New: European Franciscans in an Immigrant Church 9

Apart from Americans: German American Parish Life in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1844-59 10

Lamentations and Murmurings: The Polish Settlement Experiment in Panna Maria, Texas, 1852-60 23

Before Little Italy: The Origins of Italian American Parish Life in New York City, 1855-84 30

Conclusion 42

II On the Foundations of the Missions: Native American and Early Hispanic Parishes 45

The Sacred Flame Has Never Ceased to Glow: California's Mission Santa Barbara, 1885-1928 47

Mission to the Menominee: St. Michael the Archangel in Keshena, Wisconsin, 1852-85 56

Desert People: The San Solano Missions Among Arizona's Tohono O'odham, 1908-17 64

Conclusion 74

III Pastoral Surroundings: Parishes in Rural, Suburban, and Small-Town U.S.A. 77

Mary's Choice: The Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, Carey, Ohio, 1912-29 78

Deep in the Delta: Our Lady of Good Harbor, Buras, Louisiana, 1925-83 91

In Appalachia's "No Priest Land": Mother of Good Counsel, Hazard, Kentucky, 1962-90 105

Parish Boom: St. Mary, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, in the Post-World War II Era, 1945-74 113

Conclusion 121

IV Steeples in the City: Urban, African American, and Latino Parishes 123

Door to Door: The African American Apostolate of St. Benedict the Moor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1908-23 126

A Shrine Amidst Skyscrapers: Chicago's St. Peter's-in-the-Loop, 1936-79 133

Race and Religion in South Central: St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Watts, California, 1949-90 139

Working for Justice: Community Activism at St. Elizabeth, Oakland, California, 1961-81 148

Conclusion 157

Conclusion: What Makes a Parish Franciscan? 161

Minority: With the Least 161

Fraternity: Members of the Same Family 162

Penance: Seeking Reconciliation, Healing, and Peace 164

The Parish Experiment's Successes 165

Selected Bibliography 169

Index 185