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Home > Religion and beliefs > Christianity > Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church > Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America(Historical Studies of Urban America)
Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America(Historical Studies of Urban America)

Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America(Historical Studies of Urban America)


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About the Book

How suburbanization was a crucial catalyst for reforms in the Catholic Church.

The 1960s in America were a time of revolt against the stifling conformism embodied in the sprawling, uniform suburbs of the 1950s. Typically, the reforms of the Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council, which aimed to make the Church more modern and accessible, are seen as one result of that broader cultural liberalization. Yet in Crabgrass Catholicism, Stephen M. Koeth demonstrates that the liberalization of the Church was instead the product of the mass suburbanization that began some fifteen years earlier. Koeth argues that postwar suburbanization revolutionized the Catholic parish, the relationship between clergy and laity, conceptions of parochial education, and Catholic participation in US politics, and thereby was a significant factor in the religious disaffiliation that only accelerated in subsequent decades.

A novel exploration of the role of Catholics in postwar suburbanization, Crabgrass Catholicism will be of particular interest to urban historians, scholars of American Catholicism and religious studies, and Catholic clergy and laity.



Table of Contents:
List of Abbreviations
List of Figures and Tables

Introduction
1. An Urban Catholic World: Agrarianism, Urbanism, and the Ethnic Parish
2. The Suburban Church: Postwar Suburbanization and Catholic Institutional Expansion
3. From Church to Home: Spaces for Prayer, Education, and Charity in the Suburban Parish
4. Priests and Parishioners: Lay Associations, Parish Councils, and Church Leadership
5. Suburban Parish Boundaries: Race, Ethnicity, and Mixed Parishes in Suburbia
6. Suburban Catholic Education: Parochial Schools, CCD, and Ecclesiastical Polarization
7. Politics in Catholic Suburbia: State Funding, School Prayer, and Political Realignment
Epilogue: The Suburban Church and Religious Disaffiliation

Acknowledgments
Appendix
Notes
Index

About the Author :
Stephen M. Koeth is assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and an ordained Catholic priest.
 

Review :
"As a product of 'Crabgrass Catholicism' myself -- since my family moved to the suburbs of St. Louis in 1954 -- I found Father Koeth's history perceptive and enlightening. Yes, politics is local; yes, so is formation in faith. You'll find this work as fascinating as did I." "Stephen Koeth's Crabgrass Catholicism vividly dissects post-World War Two Long Island Catholicism to explore fissures that have roiled American Catholicism ever since—divides between clergy and laity, eroding parish life, growing Catholic divisions over education, birth control, and abortion, and the emergence of conservative Catholic Republican politics—all superbly researched and deftly written. A fascinating, compelling book." "Thoroughly researched and well analyzed, this is a smart look at a volatile period in American religious history."

"Koeth certainly succeeds in convincing the reader that the Suburban Church deserves
to be on the podium with the Immigrant Church"

Koeth is to be lauded not only for his extensive research, which fills a major gap in historical scholarship on suburbia and American Catholicism, but for the integrity with which he presents it. His measured, objective tone lets the history speak for itself rather than clouding it with his own opinions. Koeth models a humility, professionalism, and apolitical neutrality that is sorely lacking—especially, and sadly, among priests--today. Crabgrass Catholicism is a must-read.


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780226842202
  • Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
  • Publisher Imprint: University of Chicago Press
  • Height: 229 mm
  • No of Pages: 336
  • Returnable: Y
  • Series Title: Historical Studies of Urban America
  • Sub Title: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America
  • Width: 152 mm
  • ISBN-10: 0226842207
  • Publisher Date: 19 Aug 2025
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Returnable: Y
  • Spine Width: 23 mm
  • Weight: 522 gr


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