Theology Today - Vol 41, No.2 - July 1984 - BOOK REVIEW - Catholics in the Old South: Essays on Church and Culture

234 - Catholics in the Old South: Essays on Church and Culture

Catholics in the Old South: Essays on Church and Culture

Edited by Randall M. Miller and John L. Wakelyn

Macon, Georgia, Mercer University Press, 1983. 260 Pp. $15.95.

From the antebellum period to the present, southern culture has exerted a powerful influence on southern religion. Recent studies by Sam Hill, Donald Matthews, and others have examined that relationship with particular attention to the South's evangelical Protestant majority. Surprisingly little attention has been given to such religious minorities as Roman Catholics. This volume represents an initial effort to describe southern Catholicism and its relationship to southern culture. The essays reflect two broad themes. Some sketch the church's institutional development in the South, while others focus on the response of specific groups-blacks, immigrants, elites-to the southern Catholic environment. The editors, Randall Miller of St. Joseph's University and John Wakelyn of the Catholic University of America, acknowledge that this work represents only a beginning and that more elaborate scholarly investigations are needed. Nonetheless, these brief essays provide insight into diverse elements of Catholicism in the antebellum South.

An impressive group of contributors participate in this endeavor. Miller introduces the work with a survey of various themes in southern Catholicism. He concludes that Catholic culture was not one but many, at once "native and alien" in the Old South. Raymond Schmandt of St. Joseph's University surveys institutional developments in the southern church. He gives particular attention to antebellum leaders-Carroll, Spalding, England, et al.-and their response to such peculiarly American issues as lay trusteeships, immigration, and democracy. Richard Duncan, history professor at Georgetown University, concentrates on Catholics in the "upper South" and their efforts at Southernization. In

236 - Catholics in the Old South: Essays on Church and Culture

one of the most provocative essays, Sister Frances Woods of Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, describes the activities of women religious, 1727-1868. Their vocation placed them in a distinct position outside the traditional role of Southern women. Their activities as helping persons produced positive response from both Catholics and Protestants. Emmett Curran, S.J., also of Georgetown University, examines the attitudes and practices of Maryland Jesuits toward slave holding. The Jesuit decision to sell their slaves south in the 1830s reveals the complex relationship of economic reality and theological ideal.

In his second essay, Randall Miller documents the failure of Catholics to make significant religious, impact on southern blacks. He concludes that "Catholic masters were no better or no worse than Protestant masters in their treatment of the slaves" (p. 160). Gary Mills of the University of Alabama writes of the "colored Catholic community" with particular attention to the fascinating colony founded by Augustine Metoyer on L'Isle Brevêlle, Louisiana. This multiracial community of creoles de couleur was celebrated in the fact and fable of the Old South. Dennis Clark's study of the southern Irish describes their role as laborers, competing with blacks, and as outsiders unable to exert the political and economic influence wielded by their counterparts elsewhere in the United States. The final essay by John Wakelyn is devoted to that significant minority of Catholic economic and political elites who secured social status in the antebellum South. Though a divided minority, these Catholics accepted and contributed to the myth of southern gentility and aristocracy. Wakelyn's "Afterword" provides suggestions for further investigations of the southern Catholic presence.

This is a valuable introduction to a much neglected subject. The essayists tell their stories objectively with little trace of condescension toward antebellum southern society.

While there are no major surprises, the articles document the fact that Catholics, like Protestants, tended to conform to the powerful cultural forces of the south. Their response to racial, political, and economic issues generally mirrored that of their Protestant contemporaries. These essays also illustrate the diversity of southern Catholicism reflected within the equally diverse context of southern culture. Catholics in the Old South were a significant minority with a story yet to be told. This volume provides a valuable resource on the way to more extensive investigations.

BILL J. LEONARD

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky