Stephen Andes (Louisiana State University) has published a new book, The Mysterious Sofia: One Woman's Mission to Save Catholicism in Twentieth-Century Mexico (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). Andes received a Research Travel Grant in 2016 from the Cushwa Center.
Shaun Blanchard (Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University) has published The Synod of Pistoia and Vatican II: Jansenism and the Struggle for Catholic Reform (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Michael J. Burns (Boston College) and Malachy McCarthy (Claretian Missionaries Archives USA-Canada) share that the working paper from the July 2018 conference, Envisioning the Future of Catholic Religious Archives, has been released. The paper, titled "Preserving the Past, Building the Future," provides a broad outline of the major areas of concern for Catholic religious leaders, scholars and archivists who are invested in the long-term preservation and use of these valuable collections as well as suggestions on ways we can move forward together in this important work. The working paper can be found at catholicarchives.bc.edu along with video recordings of conference presentations. Since ongoing dialogue is critical to this initiative, a Google group, Archival Resources for Catholic Collections (ARCC), has been formed to facilitate connection among the three primary constituencies. Please email archivalrcc@gmail.com if you wish to join the conversation.
James Carroll (Iona College) assumed the presidency of the American Catholic Historical Association in January 2020. He received his doctorate in history from the University of Notre Dame in 1997.
Valentina Ciciliot (Ca' Foscari University of Venice) has published an article, “The Origins of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in the United States: Early Developments in Indiana and Michigan and the Reactions of the Ecclesiastical Authorities,” in Studies in World Christianity, vol. 25, no. 3 (2019), pp. 250–273.
Dominican University invites inquiries, nominations, and applications for the position of director of the Sister Mary Nona McGreal, O.P. Center for Dominican Historical Studies. The director will be expected to assume office on or about August 3, 2020. Learn more and apply at dom.edu/jobs.
Michael Doorley (Open University in Ireland) has published Justice Daniel Cohalan 1865–1946: American patriot and Irish-American nationalist with Cork University Press. Doorley received a 2017 Hibernian Research Award in support of the book.
Jason K. Duncan (Aquinas College) has an article, “‘Plain Catholics of the North’: Martin Van Buren and the Politics of Religion, 1807–1836,” in the January 2020 issue of the U.S. Catholic Historian.
Daniel Gorman (University of Rochester) shares that the public history project Digitizing Rochester’s Religions has launched, spotlighting local religious history with original essays and newly scanned primary sources from church collections. Learn more at digrocreligions.org and follow the project on Twitter @DigitizingR.
Michelle Granshaw’s Irish on the Move: Performing Mobility in American Variety Theatre was published by the University of Iowa Press in December. Research for the book was supported by a 2013 Hibernian Research Award from the Cushwa Center.
Mary Henold (Roanoke College) has published The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era (UNC, February 2020). Henold is spending the spring semester on a Fulbright, teaching at Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary.
Suzanna Krivulskaya (California State University San Marcos) has received the 2019–2020 LGBTQ Religious History Award from the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network for her paper, “‘Queer’ Rumors: Protestant Pastors, Unnatural Deeds, and Church Censure in the Twentieth-Century United States.”
Peter Ludlow (St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish) and Terrence Murphy (Saint Mary’s University, Halifax) have contributed a paper titled “‘Residing in this Distant Portion of the Great Empire’: The Irish in Imperial Halifax, Nova Scotia” in Ireland’s Imperial Connections, 1775–1947 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), edited by Daniel S. Roberts and Jonathan Jeffrey Wright as part of the Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies series.
Howard Lune (Hunter College) reports that his new book, Transnational Nationalism and Collective Identity among the American Irish, will be published in June 2020 by Temple University Press. Lune received a Hibernian Research Award in 2015 from the Cushwa Center in support of research for the book.
Carmen M. Mangion (Birkbeck, University of London) has published Catholic Nuns and Sisters in a Secular Age: Britain, 1945–1990 (Manchester University Press, 2020) investigating the experiences of Catholic nuns and sisters in Britain from 1945 to 1990, identifying how their lives were influenced by both secular social movements and religious events including the Second Vatican Council. Drawing on archival sources and interviews with 80 nuns and sisters, it examines a range of themes, including youth culture, participatory democracy, the “turn to self,” post-war modernity, the voluntary sector and the women’s movement. Probing relationships across national divides, the book enriches our understanding of interactions between religious bodies and society at large.
Michael S. Miller-Farrar (Saint Mary’s College of California) has defended his dissertation, “Powerful Voices of Women Religious: Social Justice as a Core Value of a University.”
Paul Murray (Siena College) is preparing a book-length essay about activist Franciscan friars and sisters working for peace and social justice in the United States between 1950 and the present. He welcomes input and suggestions about individuals and congregations to include in this work. Contact Murray at murray@siena.edu.
Nadia Nasr (Santa Clara University) shares that Archives & Special Collections at Santa Clara University recently concluded a two-year project to transfer the records of the Sisters of the Holy Family (SHF) in Fremont, California, to Santa Clara University. The SHF Archives form part a core group of collections centered on women in theology, including the work of women religious and lay women in the church. These collections reflect the many facets of women’s spirituality and contributions to the Church in the Bay Area and beyond. Thanks to generous funding from the SHF congregation, Santa Clara University is laying the groundwork not only to increase the visibility of the work of Sisters in the United States but also to support archival collaborations centered on women religious in the West. Read more about this collaboration in the University Library’s latest newsletter: scu.edu/library/newsletter/2019-12/partners-with-passion.
Sister Mary Navarre, O.P., director of archives for the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Michigan, shares news of the recent publication of Dominican Sisters Grand Rapids 1877–1915 by Sister Michael Ellen Carling, O.P. The volume includes copies of original documents, photographs, charts, letters, oral histories, maps, copies of newspaper clippings, excerpts from journals and copies of letters, some in translation, and an index of names and places. This source book covers the earliest years of the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1877 (when the sisters first arrived in Traverse City, Michigan, from New York) until the death of Mother Aquinata Fiegler, founder of the Congregation, in 1915.
Review for Religious is launching in 2020. This new journal will explore the vocation, theology, and life of consecrated men and women, and will be published by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in partnership with Catholic University of America Press. Visit RFRjournal.org for details and a call for papers.
Steve Rosswurm (Lake Forest College) has published the entry “Labor and the Catholic Church” in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia (oxfordre.com). He has also compiled a document collection, “The Catholic Church, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Labor in the United States, 1930–1950,” viewable at the American Catholic History Classroom, an ongoing project of the American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives at the Catholic University of America (cuomeka.wrlc.org).
Anne Schwelm (Cabrini University) shares that Cabrini University’s Holy Spirit Library recently launched the St. Frances Cabrini digital collection available at saintfrancescabrini.contentdm.oclc.org/digital. The collection currently has 88 items and continues to grow. Newly added items feature the schools opened by Mother Cabrini in Seattle, Denver, New Orleans, and Dobbs Ferry, NY. A recent article at aleteia.org featured images and descriptions from the collection.
John C. Seitz (Fordham University) has published “Altars of Ammo: Catholic Materiality and the Visual Culture of World War II,” in the September 2019 issue of Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, and Belief (vol. 15, no. 4).
The Sisters of the Humility of Mary are seeking an individual who would use the congregation’s historical resources to write the history of the community. The Sisters of the Humility of Mary were founded in Dommartin-sous-Amance, France, in 1858 and are currently located in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. Applicants with a master’s degree in history, English or a related discipline are preferred. The writing style should be accessible to general readers. Stipend is negotiable. For more information on their mission, history, and ministries, please visit our website at humilityofmary.org. If you are interested, please send a letter of interest and your resumé to Sister Margaret Marszal, H.M., at mmarszal@humilityofmary.org, or at 800 Sharon Drive Suite B, Westlake, Ohio, 44145.
Jason Sprague (University of Michigan-Dearborn) successfully defended his dissertation, “‘The Shadow of a Cross’: Odawa Catholicism in Waganakising, 1765–1829,” in August 2019. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a Ph.D. in religious studies in December 2019.
Judith Sutera, O.S.B., shares that two papers from the June 2019 Conference on the History of Women Religious were published in the winter 2019 issue of Magister: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History (vol. 25, no. 2): Jessica Criales’ “Holy Indian Women: The Indigenous Nuns of the Siete Príncipes Convent, Oaxaca, Mexico, 1782–1870,” and Eileen Groth Lyon’s “‘Tarcisia’ in Dachau: Josefa Mack and the Ordination of Blessed Karl Leisner.”
These announcements appear in the spring 2020 issue of the American Catholic Studies Newsletter.