I have taught this course many different ways, always aiming toward
some kind of coherence.  This spring (probably the last time I will
teach R338), I have decided to focus less on coherence and more on
books that I like and find provocative or stimulating.  I am listing
the books here with full ordering information and urge you to look
on amazon.com and other places for used copies (often pretty
cheap).  Required Texts: 1. Clyde F. Crews, American and Catholic:
A Popular History of Catholicism in the United States. ISBN:
0867161752  2. Diedre M. Moloney, American Catholic Lay Groups and
Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era.  ISBN: 080784986-
3  3. Mark S. Massa, Catholics and American Culture:  Fulton Sheen,
Dorothy Day, and the Notre Dame Football Team. ISBN:  0824519558  4.
John J. Fialka, Sisters:  Catholic Nuns and the Making of America.
ISBN: 0312325967  5. Eugene Kennedy, The Unhealed Wound:  The Church
and Human Sexuality. ISBN: 0312266375  6. Ursula King, Spirit of
Fire:  The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin. ISBN: 1570751773
Course requirements: Approximately 100 pages/week and probable
weekly reading quizzes. Attendance required.  Mid-term and final
exams.  Short paper.  I will fill in the blanks as much as I can
during lecture, but expect students to use web sites and the library
(encyclopedias, e.g.) to look of things they do not understand.
Generally the course has these themes: 1. A brief overview of the
story (Crews); an easy read. 2. Social reform (RC vs. Prot) 1880-
1925 (Moloney); difficult book  3. Catholicism in the 1950s (Massa);
challenging. 4. A Nuns’-eye view of the American Catholic story
(Fialka).  Easy read 5. Sexuality (Kennedy) provocative text. 6.
Catholicism and science (King) just for the fun of it.  Challenging.