Read in Albanese,

Chapter 3:  Bread and Mortar:  The Presence of Roman Catholicism, through the section on Ethics and Morality (pp. 73 - 85)

You will notice that much of this first material parallels material from Corbett, but with greater depth and sophistication.  New will be the concept of the consecration of time: the liturgical cycle.  New also will be the idea of things which are paraliturgical.  If you have difficulties understanding either of these concepts please do raise the issues in the class sessions.  Keep in the back of your minds the relationship between paraliturgical devotions and ethnicity.   Catholics in the United States have a long history of acculturation from the starting point of minority immigrant status.  Paraliturgical devotions become a way of maintaining a sense of personal identity in a culture which threatens to overwhelm a person.

Read, in Albanese,

Chapter 3:  Bread and Mortar:  The sections on The American Saga of Catholicism, pp. 85 - 100

The second half of this chapter helps us see that the American experience significantly alters the practice of Catholicism in comparison with practices in Europe.  The distinction between ethnic tension and pluralistic tension is an important one to make.  Protestants in America exerted pressures of many kinds on Catholics.  In some instances these pressures turned violent, but the more pervasive pressures were more subtle.  The response to these pressures took many forms, the principal ones of which can be summed up in the term "Americanization".  Make sure you understand some of its implications.  You will note that this dialogue between the larger American culture continues, and also that the dialogue between Protestant and Catholic thought in America continues to evolve, as well.