News

Cushwa director Kathleen Sprows Cummings has been spending more time than usual in front of the camera and on the phone with members of the media who are gearing up for Pope Francis’ visit to the United States later this month—and who are just trying to keep up with the latest round of announcements from the news-making pontiff.

Read More about Cushwa director provides context, commentary for media in run-up to papal visit

The Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame kicks off its 40th anniversary celebration this week. Throughout the 2015-2016 academic year, the Center is sponsoring events that highlight the contributions of Cushwa’s previous directors—Jay P. Dolan, R. Scott Appleby, and Timothy Matovina—as well as the Center’s continuing influence on the field of U.S. Catholic history.

Read More about The Cushwa Center celebrates its 40th anniversary with a little help from past directors

Sean Rost is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Missouri. As a recipient of a Cushwa Center Research Travel Grant this year, he traveled to South Bend for a few days this summer to work in the archives for his dissertation on anti-Klan activism in 1920s Missouri.

Read More about Why visit Catholic archives to research projects that aren't overtly Catholic? Research Travel Grant recipient Sean Rost explains

Jason Sprague is a PhD candidate in religious studies at the University of Iowa. As a 2015 Research Travel Grant recipient, he traveled to Notre Dame to use the archives for—and answer our questions about—his dissertation, “‘The Shadow of a Cross’: Odawa Catholicism in Waganakisi, 1765–1825.” 

Read More about Meet Research Travel Grant recipient Jason Sprague

After installing the exhbit last week at the Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture, Catherine Osborne answered our questions about Frederick Franck, his art from Vatican II, and how it can help inform our understanding of the Council.

Read More about Franck talk with "Outsider at the Vatican" curator Catherine R. Osborne

An exhibit of rarely seen drawings from the Second Vatican Council will be on display in South Bend this August and September to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the closing of Vatican II.   The Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism and the Notre Dame Center for Arts & Culture present Outsider at the Vatican: Frederick Franck’s Drawings from the Second Vatican Council…

Read More about The Cushwa Center presents "Outsider at the Vatican: Frederick Franck's Drawings from the Second Vatican Council"

On April 11, the Seminar in American Religion discussed Grant Wacker’s biography of Billy Graham, America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation (Harvard University Press, 2014). An unusually large crowd of about 60 visitors packed the room in McKenna Conference Center and enjoyed a stimulating morning

Read More about Spring 2015 Seminar in American Religion

More than 125 participants from 10 countries will take attend a symposium titled “The Nun in the World: Catholic Sisters & Vatican II,” which runs from May 7-9 at the University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway.…

Read More about “The Nun in the World” symposium gets underway this Thursday at the London Global Gateway

Jane Skjoldli Jane Skjoldli is a Ph.D. candidate in the study of religion at University of Bergen in Norway. She is the Cushwa fellow for the 2015 spring semester. Her dissertation has the working title “Pope John Paul II: A Globiography.” American Catholic Studies Newsletter…

Read More about World Youth Day Research Brings Jane Skjoldli to the Cushwa Center

From March 26 to 28, the University of Notre Dame hosted the American Catholic Historical Association’s 2015 Spring Meeting. The event was, to judge from the feedback of presenters and attendees, a great success. Just a few minutes spent mingling during coffee breaks between panels revealed an abundance of new connections, happy reunions, and fruitful discussion among conferees. In terms of both topic and timeframe, the meeting covered an extraordinary amount of ground. Junior scholars (yours truly included) greatly benefited from the feedback, critique, and support of experienced colleagues, proving that the ACHA is making great efforts to foster the next generation of scholarship.…

Read More about ACHA 2015 Spring Meeting at Notre Dame Features Plenary Sessions by Mark Noll, Philip Gleason

The Roman Sources for Global Irish Catholicism symposium was held April 16-17 at the University of Notre Dame’s Global Gateway in Rome. We caught up with Cushwa Center Rome Fellow Matteo Binasco right after the symposium to hear how it went.

Read More about Recap of the Symposium on Roman Sources for Irish Global Catholicism

The Cushwa Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the Center's annual grants.

Read More about Cushwa Center announces grant recipients for 2015

The keynote speaker for the American Catholic Historical Association's spring meeting, Michael Hochgeschwender, has canceled his public lecture this Thursday due to illness. Conference participants will instead hear from Mark Noll, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. Noll's talk, titled "Catholic Opinion Concerning Protestant Responsibility for the Civil War," continues on the Civil War sesquicentennial theme that Hochgeschwender intended to address. It will take place at the same time and place, 5 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the McKenna Hall auditorium, and it is free and open to the public.…

Read More about Mark Noll to deliver ACHA keynote address in place of Michael Hochgeschwender

On February 23, Gretchen Buggeln presented a lecture titled “Art, Architecture, and Liturgical Space in Postwar America.” Buggeln holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christianity and the Arts at Valparaiso University, where she is on the faculty of Christ College. Cosponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, the Institute for Church Life, and the School of Architecture, Buggeln’s lecture was based on her forthcoming book, The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America, which will be published by University of Minnesota Press in December.

Read More about Gretchen Buggeln on “Art, Architecture, and Liturgical Space in Postwar America”

The University of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism will host the spring meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA) from Thursday, March 26, through Saturday, March 28, at the Notre Dame Conference Center in McKenna Hall.…

Read More about Cushwa Center to host meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association

Jessie Whitish received her master’s degree in women’s and gender studies from the University of Louisville this year. The research she did in the archives relates to her thesis, “Radical Sister: Lucy Freibert as Feminist Nun, Activist, and Educator.” She is considering a PhD in history, and she will be presenting at the Cushwa Center’s “Nun in the World” symposium in May.

Read More about Meet Research Travel Grant recipient Jessie Whitish

Suzanne Krebsbach is an independent historian in Charleston, South Carolina. She’s working on a book, tentatively titled “Black Catholics in Charleston: Identity & Community,” which is under contract with the University of South Carolina Press. She received a 2014 travel research grant from the Cushwa Center and came to work in the Notre Dame Archives over the summer.

Read More about Five Questions for Research Travel Grant recipient Suzanne Krebsbach

Herbie Miller is ABD in theology at the University of Dayton. His dissertation, tentatively titled “Religious Controversy and the Making of Americans: A Study of the 1837 Campbell-Purcell Debate,” is an historical and theological analysis of a weeklong oral debate that happened in 1837 in Cincinnati between the leader of the Disciples of Christ, Alexander Campbell, and the Catholic bishop of Cincinnati, John Purcell.…

Read More about Meet Research Travel Grant recipient Herbie Miller

Konieczny, Kane, and Hansen On September 27, the Seminar in American Religion discussed Paula M. Kane’s Sister Thorn and Catholic Mysticism in Modern America (University of North Carolina Press, 2013). Kane, a longtime friend and collaborator of the Cushwa Center, holds the John and Lucine O’Brien Marous Chair in Contemporary Catholic Studies at the University of Pittsburgh with a joint appointment in the Department of History. Her research interests within American religious history include modern Catholicism, gender, art, film, and architecture. Her many publications include numerous book chapters and articles, along with Separatism and Subculture: Boston Catholicism, 1900-1920…

Read More about Seminar in American Religion: Paula M. Kane's Sister Thorn and Catholic Mysticism in Modern America

Catherine Osborne is the Cushwa Center's postdoctoral fellow for 2014-2015. Osborne, who earned her PhD in theology at Fordam University and taught last year at Franklin and Marshall College, is the first person to hold this new position. She's been hard at work since she arrived in August, and she recently filled us in on what she's been doing.…

Read More about Catherine Osborne joins the Cushwa Center as postdoc fellow