About This Issue
The articles appearing in this issue of American Catholic Studies will be of great interest to readers.
"A Sign of Contradiction: The Record Keeping Practices of the New York City Catholic Worker," by project archivist Hillel Arnold, examines the Catholic Worker movement from an archivist's perspective. Although the movement was opposed to organization and bureaucracy, Arnold examines the ways in which its record-keeping practices helped raise money and provide relief for those in need.
Fernanda Perrone, Rutgers University, contributes an essay on the subject of Catholic junior colleges in New Jersey, in which she examines the rise and fall of these two-year institutions. Although they have been replaced by community colleges, junior colleges administered by religious communities played an important role in the history of Catholic higher education. Dr. Perrone's earlier article, "A Well-Balanced Education: Catholic Women's Colleges in New Jersey" (American Catholic Studies, 2006), received an award from the Catholic Press Association.
"'Riding with St. Paul in the Passenger Side': The Archdiocese of Milwaukee Enters the Automobile Age, 1920-1965," by Peter Cajka, a Ph.D. candidate at Boston College, explores the role played by "car culture" in Catholic life. Cajka notes that car ownership changed the neighborhood parish, increased travel to local religious shrines, and even became a status symbol for priests and bishops.
The cover essay, by Karen Kennelly, CSJ, is longer than usual, but well worth reading. Its topic is the traveling exhibit "Women and Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America," and we are grateful to the author for providing readers with a detailed and focused description of the project. As an aside, I had the good fortune to view the exhibit, and highly recommend it to one and all.
Congratulations to Glen Gendzel and Ann Marie Ryan, who were awarded first and third prize respectively, for Best Essay in a scholarly magazine by the Catholic Press Association, and to Mel Piehl, whose book review of The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day received second place in the Book Review category. <
Do enjoy all of the articles and book reviews in this issue. As always, we welcome your suggestions, and are grateful for your support.
Margaret M. McGuinness, Co-editor