A survey of Catholicism in North America since May 4, 1493, when Pope Alexander VI issued the bull Inter Caetera identifying the New World as a field for missionary endeavor. We'll look at religion in the Spanish and French colonies, the founding of Maryland in 1634; the early battles for toleration; the Irish migration of the 1820s and 1840s; antebellum anti-Catholicism; the establishment of American religious orders; African-American Catholicism; Isaac Hecker and the Americanist controversy; the new immigration of 1880-1924; the development of parochial education; the Catholic worker movement; the struggles to elect John F. Kennedy and other Catholic officials; the impact of Vatican II; and the increasing growth of the Hispanic-American church. Topics for review include ethnicity and conflict, gender roles, domestic spirituality, generational conflict, and popular Catholicism in Andy Warhol's art, Martin Scorsese's films, and Madonna's music. Readings will include selected primary sources, fiction, and modern historical studies. Lecture and discussion. Requirements: full attendance and participation; brief weekly response papers, an in-class midterm, a take-home final exam, and a short paper. Open to all classes without prerequisite. Enrollment limited to 30.

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