Catholicism’s presence in American political life behaves much like a slinky: oscillating back and forth between influential and ineffectual; cyclically welcomed into and banished from the political arena. John McGreevy attempts to document its fluctuating motion with Catholicism and American Freedom, beginning first with the massive immigration of Catholics in the 19th century and ending with the Church’s battle with sexual abuse today. McGreevy weaves together a complex narrative of the Catholic history of the United States in a way that is both sympathetic in some regards, and acutely critical in others. One theme, however, appears to remain constant throughout the piece: the consistency of basic Catholic principles themselves. While certainly evolving to address the issues of the time, core Catholic tenets of community over individual autonomy and obedience to the church have continually influenced Catholicism’s interaction with …show more content…
The chapter entitled “The Social Question” was particularly illuminating in this regard. Here, McGreevy detailed how the rejection of individual autonomy worked to the advantage of the consumer in the industrializing country. Thomas Haskell, a renowned historation, highlights a shift from the “formalist understanding of the human self, in which self-denial, temperance, and education were the solutions to economic distress, toward an antiformalist understanding that stressed social explanations for individual crisis.” Haskell credits this shift to Catholic social thought. In other words, Catholics did not blame individuals for economic hardships, but rather focused on the systemic problems of the community. This led to the creation of numerous social welfare policies championed by Catholics, and the establishment of a variety of charities designed to benefit the lowest economic class of American