Review  all the readings for Thursday, February 28.

I want to catch up some of the loose ends before we move on take our first look at consensus Catholicism in American Culture.  We've been moving at a pretty good clip, and I think we can profit by some review of the general principles, and especially by looking at the assigned primary sources in Major Problems in American Religious History.

Projects for February, Part II.

We've noted that consensus religion actively involves itself in contemporary society--which means that denominations which ascribe to this general position frequently seek to shape the culture's future through such tactics as issuing  statements on current political issues, forming study commissions and issuing position papers, organizing pressure groups, or creating agencies which solicit and distribute funds to others to ease or alter some particular condition.  What I would like you to do is take any ONE of the issues below, and, using the internet sources sources we've uncovered (and any others you might discover on your own) uncover the "official" position of the consensus protestant denominations on the issue at hand, and also what, if any activities the organization is undertaking to address the issue. Racial issues are not on the list below because they will be addressed later in the course.

THE ISSUES

• Poverty/economic justice
• Capital Punishment
• Women in the ministry
• Prayer in the Schools
• Abortion/Right to Life
• Creationism/Evolution
• Homosexuality
• Gay Clergy
• Response to September 11, 2001 (Including Civil Liberties)

Write a short (c. 5 pp.) paper which compares the responses to these issues... noting where there is agreement and where disagreement.  If you wish, identify which group(s) have views most similar to your own, and which are most different.  Note, too, there may very will be significant dissent from this official view as well.  The internet provides a very useful medium for persons or groups to record their dissent.  You might uncover examples of this by using a good search engine like google, using multiple search words simultaneously, for instance combining capital punishment and Methodism my turn up web sites in favor of capital punishment and opposed to it.

Chapter 4:  Catholics in the United States.  pp. 70 - 92

Depending on your own tradition, the material in this chapter may seem simple or it may seem complex.  Here is an opportunity for you to avail yourselves of your study groups.  One section of this book which all of you will need to make sure you understand is the section entitled Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in American Catholicism, pp. 84 - 86.  The key concept you need to understand is inculturation.   Corbett looks at the conservative movement within Catholicism as evidence of inculturation, and you'll need to understand why.
 

Browse at least one of the websites listed in Corbett:

Catholic Information Center on the Net:  Found at http://www.catholic.net/  (note that you do NOT want to type the final RCC as given in the book.
Catholic Online:  found at http://www.catholic.org/
Vatican Web Site:  found at http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm
Catholic Campaign for America seems to have gone down.  I find no reference to it after 1997.  However you can read a statements of its principles at.  http://www.rc.net/events/breakfast/mylod.htm
True Catholic:  found at http://www.truecatholic.org/  Note that this organization is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, but claims to represent true Catholicism.  Adherents to it claim that Pope John Paul II is a heretic and the true pope is The most Reverend Father Lucian Pulvermacher, taking upon himself the name Pope Pius XIII.
The Pope Page:  found at http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Pope/Pope.html
National Council of Catholic Bishops found at http://www.nccbuscc.org

I will collect your journals for evaluation on Thursday, March 7.

• Journals should include your material related to all syllabi up to Tuesday, March 5. (Not the material on Catholicism)
• Please make sure that you have your name on each page.  It would also be helpful if you numbered the pages just in case they slip[ out of my hands and wind up in a pile on the floor.  (This has been known to happen).
• I will be evaluating your journals based on factors such as completeness (have you done all the readings and assignments), thoroughness (do your notes give evidence that you've read the materials carefully and ), interaction (do your notes give indication that you've thought about what you've been learning, reacted to it, and recorded your reactions in a way which allows your to return and think through things further later).