Walter J. Ong in the 50’s, with regardnto the fact that by then Roman Catholicismnwas no longer an immigrant faith.nThe rebellion of the San Patricio battalionnin the Mexican-American War isnpresetited as a suitable analogy to thenprincipled resistance to the VietnamnWar. Hennesey claims that the 19thcenturynconflict was also an unjust war. Itndoes not occur to him that before thenbloody dictator Santa Ana reached Texasnhis forces had spent years violating anyncivil rights and liberty in five other Mexicannprovinces, inflicting upon Mexicansnall possible atrocities and outright massacres.nThe John Birch Society is revealednas a major threat to domestic freedom,nand Joseph R. McCarthy was really thendevil masquerading as a U.S. Senator.nAll the hackneyed phraseology andncliches of American liberalism are put onnthe earlier optimism of Michael Novak,nRobert Hoyt, and others, the liturgicalnreforms did not bring forth a massivennew awakening. Instead, freedom ofnconscience spread among Catholics fromnthe conciliar decree made for non-Catholics;nthe increased role of the laity weakenednchurch stmcture, as did episcopalncoUegiality; and no new sense of spiritualndirection brought about more unity or angreater moral posture.nWhile Father Hennesey may see annoutpouring of enthusiasm, others donnot. Young Catholic men are not breakingndown American seminary walls to getnin and join the celebration of modernistnCatholicism. On the other hand. ArchbishopnMarcel Lefebvre was forced bynPope Paul to close his crowded seminarynbecause the embarrassing appeal of orthodoxynand tradition was too strong.n”Few books on American Catholui-^in (uililMiid in ilic l;i-i two ili-i;i have IH-IIInmore welcome than James Hennt-sty’.’- . . . tomprfluii.sivc, l:ui-fllk-rl . . . ihuroiifjhnresearch, incredible accuracy … a blcrul ‘>f-ilii)iarly cxiclkrui-. liit-rary firacc. uii’lnintellectual integrity . . . churcli history ai ii’- he.M.”n- OmiiHonwealnparade. McCarthy is referred to as “anlifelong practicing Cathohc,” a statementnthat has the equivalent literarynresonance of “card-carrying communist.n” The inordinate fear of communism,nfurthermore, persists in Americaninto the 1980’s, as the author observes;nPolish Catholics and their own inordinatenfears are not mentioned.nOn a separate point, Orestes AugustusnBrownson’s impact upon AmericannCatholicism is underappreciated, whilenMary Harris “Mother” Jones receivesnalmost three times as much space. For then1960’s, Hennesey approvingly notes thatnPope John XXIII and Paul VI “abandonedn;7>«^
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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