Sacramento and the Catholic Church: Shaping a Capital City (The Urban West Series)

This book examines the interplay between the city of Sacramento, California, and the Catholic Church from the city’s beginnings to the twenty-first century, to illustrate the sometimes hidden ways religious communities help form and sustain urban community. This work examines the interplay between the city of Sacramento and the Catholic Church since the 1850s. Avella uses Sacramento as a case study of the role of religious denominations in the development of the American West. In Sacramento, as in other western urban areas, churches brought civility and various cultural amenities, and they helped to create an atmosphere of stability so important to creating a viable urban community. At the same time, churches often had to shape themselves to the secularizing tendencies of western cities while trying to remain faithful to their core values and practices. Besides the numerous institutions that the Church sponsored, it brought together a wide spectrum of the city's diverse ethnic populations and offered them several routes to assimilation. Catholic Sacramentans have always played an active role in government and in the city's economy, and Catholic institutions provided a matrix for the creation of new communities as the city spread into neighboring suburbs. At the same time, the Church was forced to adapt itself to the needs and demands of its various ethnic constituents, particularly the flood of Spanish-speaking newcomers in the late twentieth century. "Sacramento and the Catholic Church examines the interplay between the city of Sacramento and the Catholic Church since the 1850, illustrating the sometimes hidden ways religious communities help to form and sustain urban communities. Avella uses Sacramento as a case study of the role of religious denominations in the development of the American West. In Sacramento, as in oilier western urban areas, churches relics brought civility and various cultural amenities, and they helped to create an atmosphere of stability so important to creating a viable urban community. At the same lime, churches often had to shape themselves to the secularizing tendencies of; western cities while trying to remain faithful to their core values and practices." "Steven M. Avella's close study of secular and church archives, newspapers, and oilier sources reveals that churches and their congregations played a significant role in determining both the physical shape of Sacramento and the lone and quality of life there. Sacramento and the Catholic Church is a major contribution to our understanding of the development of western cities and the role of religion and religious institutions in that development."--Jacket Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. A Cooperative Community, 1850-1886 -- Chapter 2. Cathedral Building as Urban Project, 1865-1889 -- Chapter 3. Religious Sisters as Urban Agents, 1850-1920 -- Chapter 4. Catholics and the Ethnic Consensus, 1880-1930 -- Chapter 5. Building the City Beautiful, 1890-1930 -- Chapter 6. Catholic Social Provision: The Depression and World War II, 1930-1945 -- Chapter 7. Carving a Space and Creating Community: The Catholic Church and the North Area, 1940-1970 -- Chapter 8. Building a Visible Latino Presence in the City, 1930-1970 -- Chapter 9. Homelessness and Fighting the City Consensus, 1970-2000 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index The Sacramento metropolitan area is one of the culturally diverse communities in the country. The Catholic Church, present in Sacramento from the beginnings of the town, has had an important influence on Sacramento's life and development. This title examines the interplay between the city of Sacramento and the Catholic Church since the 1850s.