This essay suggests and analyzes six themes that the author concludes are crucial both in understanding the past course of events in the Catholic Church of the United States and that may well shape its future. These themes involve 1) the nature and effectiveness of the Catholic sub-culture over time, 2) the issue as to which source of authority the Catholic people have historically deferred; 3) how the Catholic Church and people have related to the central American value of individualism, itself under constant revision; 4) the institutionalized dissent which overtook much of the Catholic organizational infrastructure from the mid-1960s onwards; 5) the revitalizing possibilities for the Catholic Church regarding the recent massive Hispanic immigration and 6) the reasons for the historic failure of the Catholic Church to effectively evangelize among the black African American population and some suggestions to reverse the situation.

This article examines the increasing problem of health care employees other than physicians and nurses, especially pharmacists, facing discipline or termination for refusing to engage in immoral practices such as dispensing contraceptives. The article considers the limitations of current anti-discrimination statutes in protecting such employees, and believes that "conscience laws "—which so far only a minority of states have enacted, but many are considering—afford the best possibility for protection.

Sister Margherita Marchione has been one of the leading academic defenders of Pope Pius XII against the untruthful, dishonest, and often scurrilous attacks against him in recent years by some writers who have claimed that he not only did not do enough to help the Jews during World War II, but actually somehow collaborated with the Nazis. Sister Margherita has published several books about Pius, showing that the original understanding of his efforts was indeed true: he worked intensively to do all in his power to protect the Jews and other groups. Indeed, his efforts surpassed that of most political leaders of the time. Currently, as the draft letter below indicates, she is on a campaign to solicit the testimony of Jews who were first-hand beneficiaries of his efforts, or those who know directly of such cases, in order to get Pius recognized at the Vad Vashem Memorial in Israel as "Just Among the Nations." Two testimonials are apparently required and history tells us that many, many more than two Jews were saved by Pius's efforts. For her efforts to restore the reputation of Pius XII and to once again set the historical record straight about him. Sister Margherita will be honored in 2007 with the Society of Catholic Social Scientists' Blessed Frederic Ozanam Award for Catholic Social Action, named after the Society's patron. Below are four recent short articles that Sister Margherita wrote about Pius s efforts and leadership during the War and a sample letter in which she requests anyone who knows Jews who can provide testimony to contact her. There is also some biographical information about Sister Margherita.

As a professor in a secular university for forty years, my teaching responsibility has been to teach students of political science as well as I could. Mere worldly success depends on doing that, as well as on being a successful scholar, as the profession and ones colleagues define successful. As a Christian, one's salvation depends partly on how conscientiously one fulfills these worldly responsibilities to others. "Thou shah not steal" and "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself" It is obviously a challenge to try to sanctify one s daily professional work but it is not impossible. The following is a record of how one man has attempted to do that in the admittedly unpromising environment of a secular university. Perhaps these experiences and reflections on them may be useful for others who are considering an academic career.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the federal judiciary sanctioned efforts by pro-abortionists to thwart peaceful, prayerful pro-life protest. However, as of 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court has deprived pro-abortion forces of two of the three main weapons in their federal arsenal. These legal developments are substantial victories for the pro-life movement. Nevertheless, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entranceways Act (FACE) remains a significant impediment to savingpre-born lives. The defeat of this statute, which seems at least possible at the Supreme Court level, is a paramount goal for the pro-life community.

Dr. Donald A. Doyle, who was a charter member of the SCSS, first President of the SCSS New York Metropolitan Chapter, and former school administrator and political science professor, wrote this personal assessment about current American education in light of the teaching of the Church before his death in 2005. The CSSR proudly presents it here as his last published writing.

This article argues that the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum is particularly applicable in the present-day in its critique of the way ideology distorts human dignity and on the subject of poverty in developing countries in the context of—and somewhat stimulated by—a global economy.

Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future. Children, our future, are perceived as a threat to the present, as if they were taking something away from our lives. Children are seen as a liability rather than as a source of hope. There is a clear comparison between today’s situation and the decline of the Roman Empire. In its final days, Rome still functioned as a great historical framework, but in practice it was already subsisting on models that were destined to fail. Its vital energy had been depleted.

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.