Salvatore J. LaGumina, Professor Emeritus at Nassau Community College, SUNY, established himself as an early proponent, in the 1960s, of the ethnic factor in American history, while dedicating himself to the objective study of the Italian-American experience. Author of seventeen books, more than a hundred scholarly articles, consultant to educational institutions, a founder of the American Italian Historical Association (1966), he has recorded and analyzed the complex nature of immigration and ethnicity in society. He has been instrumental in guiding a rising intelligentsia to create a systematic program of Italian-American Studies as an academic discipline that is worthy of objective research and constant revision. At its 15th annual national conference at St. John’s University School of Law in October 2007, he received the SCSS lifetime achievement award and the Nassau Community College Center for Catholic Studies Award for his contributions inunderstanding Italian American History and its relationship to Catholicism.

The successful Counter Sexual Revolution will consist of a combination of doctrinal reaffirmation, renewal of prudent pastoral practices, and practical help. The practical help of natural family planning (NFP) has developed from the calendar rhythm of the early 1930s to the systems taught today. Prudent pastoral practices include proper instruction before marriage including the right kind of course on natural family planning (NFP). The right kind of NFP course includes ecological breastfeeding, understandable transmission of Catholic moral teaching, and some form of systematic natural family planning.

The growing sway of postmodernism over the intellectual life of the contemporary academy has lead many scholars to question conventional, post-Enlightenment notions of objectivity in historical inquiry. As universal History gives way to particular histories rooted in racial, ethnic, class, or gender identities, Catholics need to rethink their relation to objectivity. The current postmodern moment provides an opportunity for Catholics to reclaim a distinctly Catholic approach to history. Catholics may applaud the deconstruction of Enlightenment objectivity without endorsing a facile relativism in which Catholicismappears as simply one among many competing perspectives. Catholics should read postmodernism itself as a distortion of certain authentic Catholic insights on the need to root inquiry in authoritative communities of interpretation. Catholic history may benefit from the rigorous empirical standards of modern secular history, but it must never let those standards serve as the ultimate arbiter of the moral and spiritual truths that speak to us through history. The patristic traditionof the “four senses of scripture” offers a fruitful model for how postmodern Catholic historians might order the empirical and spiritual concerns of historical inquiry.

Ellen McCormack, a courageous pro-life Catholic from Merrick, Long Island, forced those running for office in the 1976 presidential primaries to address the abortion issue. Although unheralded by the feminists, McCormack entered the primaries and became the first woman to earn matching federal funds in a presidential primary campaign. Through the efforts of dedicated volunteers from around the country, Ellen McCormack brought the pro-life message tomore than 190 million people. This article emphasizes the imitable qualities of “determination and prayer” to which she credits the successes of her campaign.

This article proposes a model for the project of integrating the field of clinical psychology with Catholic intellectual tradition. “Integration” here is understood as the project by which psychology’s understanding of the human person is illuminated and perfected by drawing on anthropological knowledge from outside psychology, specifically from Catholic philosophy and divine revelation. The article sets forth a definition of integration in the form of six principles. Ratherthan formulating the principles as descriptive premises (e.g., “six propositions defining integration”), they are formulated as habits of mind, intellectual qualities that one possesses, and when possessed, capacitate one to do Christian scholarly integration. The model is flexible enough to be adapted for use in integrating other social sciences, as well as, to some degree, the hard sciences.

The efforts of Liberals to complete the project of a universal non-sectarian public education system launched in 1870 came to a head with their victory in the election of 1906. Liberals identified two popular Liberal essayists, Augustine Birrell and G. K. Chesterton, as leaders who could shepherd through a new religious education compromise as Secretary of Education and vox populi respectively. The failure of the bill, which has had repercussions lasting to today—can be attributed to the resistance of Conservatives in the House of Lords, to the political mishandling of Augustine Birrell, and to G. K. Chesterton’s unexpected opposition.

There has been much ferment in the church-state field for some time. Despite the many book-length treatments of the issue, these scholarly efforts dealing with the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment show no sign of abating. This article considers two recent, noteworthy efforts: Noah Feldman's Divided By God: America's Church-State Problem—And What We Should Do About It (2005) and Patrick M. Garry's Wrestling with God: The Courts' Tortuous Treatment of Religion (2006). The article provides an overview of both books and then discusses the lessons that can be learned from considering these very different books. In the end, Garry's book, which offers a more convincing historical survey and recognizes the special value of religion, offers more constructive insights about how we ought to move forward in this contentious area of the law.

This article was based on a talk given at the Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College, Garden City, N.Y., on June 25, 2007. It discusses various themes concerning Hispanics and the Catholic Church in the U.S. These themes include the research of Prof. Philip Jenkins of Pennsylvania State University on the global charismatic revolution in Christianity, the attraction of Hispanics to rich and traditional Catholic liturgy and devotions, the trend of defections ofHispanic Catholics to Protestant groups, the socially conservative views of Hispanic Catholics on abortion and marriage, and the effect of immigration on the Catholic Church in the U.S. The thesis of the talk is that the Catholic Church in the U.S. will become more orthodox and charismatic due to the increased Hispanic presence. The talk has been edited for publication.

From the colonial period to the present, Italians have migrated to the American nation, but that migration has been irregular. Throughout modern history Italy has been the source of emigration, especially to the United States. In recent years, Italy’s population has stabilized and immigration to the United States is minimal. This essay will examine the irregular pattern of Italian immigration to the United States, its causes, and why and when it developed. Americanimmigration policy will be examined as it affected Italian immigration. Interwoven in the text will be official census data accompanied by an analysis of that data. Finally, concluding commentary will be made concerning the degree of Italian (American) identity in the contemporary, diverse United States.

Karen Horney held that neurosis originates in emotional insecurity. The neurotic forms an unrealistic ideal of what the person should be which is separated from the actual innate capacities and the concrete circumstances of the person and traps the neurotic in an impossible task. While her theory lacks development regarding psychological health, a Christian ethics of motivation for action and personal vocation can enrich her understanding of how a psychologically healthy person proceeds. Germaine Grisez’s concept of personal vocation outlines a framework whereby psychologically healthy persons act and realize their real capacities within particular circumstances. Morality serves as the foundation for self-fulfillment.

The most fundamental parental right is the right to guide your child’s education. This basic parental right was clearly enunciated by Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio. But this is not only a Catholic view, but a universal one. In its famous 1948 Declaration on Human Rights, the UN declared, “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education to be given to their children.” Our country, unfortunately, has one of the worst records in the entire world in living up to this key principle, where education remains the last great unnatural monopoly. At a cost of over half a trillion dollars per year, U.S. education fares poorly compared to other industrialized nations. Competition, through parental choice, will improve the quality of education for all students, lower the cost for taxpayers and allow parents to better guide their child’s moral development.