I think it’s important to note that by the start of the 20th century, Catholics made up the largest denomination in the United States. Although mainline Protestants do not agree on several main ideological points, they formed an alliance together so that they would not lose power in the United States.
Catholics seemed to have a more prominent role in social change than did the Protestants. Personally, I think this might have been because so many of the church’s supporters were in the working class. This class was in major need of social reforms during the early part of the 20th century, especially in concerns to the conditions for workers. While different Catholics had different ways of approaching things, nothing seemed to divide the church to the part where different sects had to be formed. Church leaders would occasionally speak out against certain individuals who they felt had crossed a line, but no major spilts occured within the church itself.
In contrast the Protestants seemed to have more structural concerns within themselves. Though they were able to ban together to form several groups, certain religions, such as the Methodists and Baptists, split into different organizations. This made it undoubtedly harder to be an effective voice in confronting social problems.
One major difference in the two groups is also their way of thinking. Dorothy O’Day started the Catholic Worker’s movement to directly feed and shelter the homeless. This is in direct contrast to the mainline Protestants, who seemed to believe that institutions like the government would be able to best provide aid. They heavily supported bureaucracy.
Today, the mainline Protestant churches still seem to have problems with their splits over ethical questions. The Catholic Church also seems spilt on ethical questions. Although the Pope is the main figure of the church, many Catholics do not necessarily hold the same views. Though I think this hinders both groups, I think both have been able to reach out to the homeless and less fortunate in a direct way (through soup kitchens and clothing drives, etc) that the government is not as able to do. Though I still take issues with the anti feminism in the Catholic Church, I believe more strives have been made in the last century for social reform and equality.
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I hadn't thought of, as you pointed out, the way that Catholics have not broken off into separate sects in spite of disagreeing with each other. I think that this is a testament to the endurance of the Catholic Church. It seems that Catholics are able to disagree with each other, and even with the official Church teachings coming from the pope, but still have a strong sense of communion as Catholics.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting also how you point out that many Catholics would have been in the working class. I think that this is probably largely due to the large amount of immigrants, especially from Ireland and Italy, who started out in this country as working-class citizens. This is exemplified in the Fisher chapter, when so many of the characters playing large roles in social activism were Irish Catholics.
I also thought that it was interesting that Dorothy Day was against social programs by the federal government, as you said, in stark contrast to the mainline protestants and many other social activists' line of thinking.
I also agree that Catholic and Mainline Christians still do, in spite of their shortcomings, reach out to impoverished communities and parts of the world, and do make a positive difference.