Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North (Historical Studies of Urban America)

__Parish Boundaries__ chronicles the history of Catholic parishes in major cities such as Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia, melding their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of twentieth century American race relations. In vivid portraits of parish life, John McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbors. By tracing the transformation of a church, its people, and the nation, McGreevy illuminates the enormous impact of religious culture on modern American society. "__Parish Boundaries__ can take its place in the front ranks of the literature of urban race relations."—Jonathan Dorfman, __Washington Post Book Review__ "A prodigiously researched, gracefully written book distinguished especially by its seamless treatment of social and intellectual history."—Robert Orsi, __American Historical Review__ "__Parish Boundaries__ will fascinate historians and anyone interested in the historic connection between parish and race."—Ed Marciniak, __Chicago Tribune__ "The history that remains to be written will rest on the firm foundation of Mr. McGreevy's remarkable book."—Richard Wightman Fox, __New York Times Book Review__

Parish Boundaries chronicles the history of Catholic parishes in major cities such as Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia, melding their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of twentieth century American race relations. In vivid portraits of parish life, John McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbors. By tracing the transformation of a church, its people, and the nation, McGreevy illuminates the enormous impact of religious culture on modern American society.

"Parish Boundaries can take its place in the front ranks of the literature of urban race relations."—Jonathan Dorfman, Washington Post Book Review

"A prodigiously researched, gracefully written book distinguished especially by its seamless treatment of social and intellectual history."—Robert Orsi, American Historical Review

"Parish Boundaries will fascinate historians and anyone interested in the historic connection between parish and race."—Ed Marciniak, Chicago Tribune

"The history that remains to be written will rest on the firm foundation of Mr. McGreevy's remarkable book."—Richard Wightman Fox, New York Times Book Review

The New York Times Book Review - Richard Wightman Fox

A wonderfully researched book that takes us deep into the 20th-century Catholic life of several Northern cities — Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Boston, among others. . . .Remarkable.

Steeples topped by crosses still dominate neighborhood skylines in many American cities, silent markers of local worlds rarely examined by historians. In Parish Boundaries, John McGreevy chronicles the history of these Catholic parishes and connects their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of American race relations in the twentieth century. In vivid portraits of parish life in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities, McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between Euro-American Catholics and their African-American neighbors. He demonstrates how the territorial nature of the parish - more bound by geography than Protestant or Jewish congregations - kept Catholics in their neighborhoods, and how this commitment to place complicated efforts to integrate urban neighborhoods. He also shows how the church responded to the growing number of African-American parishioners by condemning racism, and how this teaching was received in communities rocked by racial strife. Taking the story through the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, McGreevy demonstrates how debates about community and racial justice helped trigger a more general reevaluation of the character of American Catholicism. A “remarkable” study of white Catholics and African Americans—and the dynamics between them in New York, Chicago, Boston, and other cities ( The New York Times Book Review ). Parish Boundaries chronicles the history of Catholic parishes in major cities such as Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia, melding their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of twentieth century American race relations. In vivid portraits of parish life, John McGreevy examines the contacts and conflicts between European-American Catholics and their African American neighbors. By tracing the transformation of a church, its people, and the nation, McGreevy illuminates the enormous impact of religious culture on modern American society. “Thorough, sensitive, and balanced.”— Kirkus Reviews “ Parish Boundaries can take its place in the front ranks of the literature of urban race relations.”— The Washington Post "A prodigiously researched, gracefully written book distinguished especially by its seamless treatment of social and intellectual history."— American Historical Review “ Parish Boundaries will fascinate historians and anyone interested in the historic connection between parish and race.”— Chicago Tribune Contents -- Introduction -- One - A Catholic World in America -- Two - "Race" and the Immigrant Church -- Three - Catholics and the Second World War -- Four - Neighborhood Transition in a Changing Church -- Five - Community Organization and Urban Renewal -- Six - Washington and Rome -- Seven - Civil Rights and the Second Vatican Council -- Eight - Racial Justice and the People of God -- Nine - Catholic Freedom Struggle -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index Tracing the transformation of a church, its people, and the nation, this work illuminates the impact of religious culture on the course of modern US history. It chronicles the world of Catholic parishes and connects their place in urban history to the course of American race relations. This volume chronicles the history of Catholic parishes in such major cities as Boston, Chicago, Detriot, New York and Philadelphia, linking their unique place in the urban landscape to the course of 20th-century American race relations. Riots swept across much of Chicago during the final days of July 1919.