American Catholic Studies Newsletter · Fall 2025
volume 52, number 2
From the director
The Cushwa Center has been celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, which brought the great successes of the 13th triennial Conference on the History of Women Religious and the Catholic Modernity in the Americas conference. With early and senior scholars and practitioners coming to South Bend from across the Global North and Global South, the Cushwa Center continues to expand its local, regional, and international network. Its co-directors and staff were humbled and inspired by the overwhelming response of gratitude and support for the conferences from veteran and new members.
The African globalization of the Catholic Church
By Maria Cecilia Ulrickson. An alternative vision of the global Church emerges if we begin outside the periphery and study not the missionaries but the missionized, who themselves became the salt of the earth.
Myth and spirit in the Latin American concept of modernity
By Nayeli L. Riano. José Enrique Rodó and José Carlos Mariátegui—one a liberal, the other a Marxist—each advocated for a reenchantment of Latin American life to counter a secular, materialist, and utilitarian culture emanating from North America and Europe.
The theology of the people and its pastoral ministry: Origins, developments, and legacy
By Pablo Forni. Following the Second Vatican Council, an alternative and original theological perspective emerged in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and its surrounding areas. This theology sought to implement the principles of the Council within the regional context, particularly among the poor.
In review: Cushwa 50th anniversary conference
Katie Heatherly, Katherine Mascari, Anthony Scordino, and Michael Skaggs revisit the Cushwa Center’s April 2025 conference, Catholic Modernity in the Americas: Land, Culture, Politics.
Transition time
By Heather Gary. The 13th triennial meeting of the Conference on the History of Women Religious focused on lives and archives, including the daunting race against time to save collections at risk of being lost.
Augustus Tolton, Venerable: A holy remedy for disturbing times
By Deacon Mel Tardy. Supporters of the cause for canonization of the nation’s first known Black Catholic priest gathered in South Bend in July 2025 to tell his story, to pray, and to chart a path forward.
Friends of Cushwa news and notes
Read updates from the Cushwa Center’s network.
Gutiérrez Awards launched
By Kelly Rich Klee. Gustavo Gutiérrez Research Awards, newly launched in 2025, will support projects that engage or take inspiration from the work of Rev. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P. (1928–2024) and his articulation of the preferential option for the poor.
Undergraduate Research and Writing Prize launched
The University of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism has launched an annual competitive award open to students at Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College.
Six scholars join Cushwa’s Rome Advisory Committee
Since 2014, the Cushwa Center has worked with Notre Dame Rome to host seminars, conferences, lectures, and fellowships in the Eternal City. The center’s Rome Advisory Committee, inaugurated in 2017 and chaired by Luca Codignola, recently welcomed six new members.
From historian to pilgrim: Missionary records and a papal transition, May 2025
Melissa Coles found herself in Rome for archival research just as the city welcomed its new bishop, Pope Leo XIV.
Heroes for a hot, gray future
Angela Xia reviews James Chappel’s Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age (Basic Books, 2024).
Recent publications of interest
Browse this issue’s overview of recent books and articles in American Catholic studies, history and sociology of religion, theology, and related fields.