James M. O'Toole – författare

Militant and Triumphant fills a major gap in the historical record of American Catholicism by presenting a vivid, objective portrait of Cardinal William Henry O'Connell and his significance in the church and his times. Focusing on both the triumphs and controversies of O'Connell's career, James M. O'Toole chronicles the history of the Catholic Church in Boston in the first half of the twentieth century.The biography begins with a lively discussion of O'Connell's Irish immigrant youth and education and his early positions as rector of the American College in Rome and bishop of Portland, Maine. O'Toole convincingly demonstrates that as bishop, O'Connell actively built his own public image while ambitiously campaigning for the position of archbishop of Boston. The most enduring success, O'Toole argues, of O'Connell's 37-year tenure as archbishop of Boston—despite a sexual and financial scandal surrounding his nephew, the archdiocesan chancellor—was his elaboration of "a personal style of leadership that was different from that of earlier bishops, changing the expectations for Catholic bishops in America by thrusting on them the role of public figures they have generally south to play since."Throughout, the book examines O'Connell's cultural and symbolic leadership of New England's Catholic population, and describes O'Connell's role in defining American Catholicism as both "militant and triumphant": asserting its cultural vision beyond narrow denominational boundaries into broad areas of public morality, and confident of its eventual triumph over secular standards.

Militant and Triumphant fills a major gap in the historical record of American Catholicism by presenting a vivid, objective portrait of Cardinal William Henry O'Connell and his significance in the church and his times. Focusing on both the triumphs and controversies of O'Connell's career, James M. O'Toole chronicles the history of the Catholic Church in Boston in the first half of the twentieth century.The biography begins with a lively discussion of O'Connell's Irish immigrant youth and education and his early positions as rector of the American College in Rome and bishop of Portland, Maine. O'Toole convincingly demonstrates that as bishop, O'Connell actively built his own public image while ambitiously campaigning for the position of archbishop of Boston. The most enduring success, O'Toole argues, of O'Connell's 37-year tenure as archbishop of Boston—despite a sexual and financial scandal surrounding his nephew, the archdiocesan chancellor—was his elaboration of "a personal style of leadership that was different from that of earlier bishops, changing the expectations for Catholic bishops in America by thrusting on them the role of public figures they have generally south to play since."Throughout, the book examines O'Connell's cultural and symbolic leadership of New England's Catholic population, and describes O'Connell's role in defining American Catholicism as both "militant and triumphant": asserting its cultural vision beyond narrow denominational boundaries into broad areas of public morality, and confident of its eventual triumph over secular standards.

Shaken by the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal, and challenged from within by social and theological division, Catholics in America are at a crossroads. But is today’s situation unique? And where will Catholicism go from here? With the belief that we understand our present by studying our past, James O’Toole offers a bold and panoramic history of the American Catholic laity.O’Toole tells the story of this ancient church from the perspective of ordinary Americans, the lay believers who have kept their faith despite persecution from without and clergy abuse from within. It is an epic tale, from the first settlements of Catholics in the colonies to the turmoil of the scandal-ridden present, and through the church’s many American incarnations in between. We see Catholics’ complex relationship to Rome and to their own American nation. O’Toole brings to life both the grand sweep of institutional change and the daily practice that sustained believers. The Faithful pays particular attention to the intricacies of prayer and ritual—the ways men and women have found to express their faith as Catholics over the centuries.With an intimate knowledge of the dilemmas and hopes of today’s church, O’Toole presents a new vision and offers a glimpse into the possible future of the church and its parishioners. Moving past the pulpit and into the pews, The Faithful is an unmatched look at the American Catholic laity. Today’s Catholics will find much to educate and inspire them in these pages, and non-Catholics will gain a newfound understanding of their religious brethren.

The remarkable story of how confession became a defining rite for American Catholics—and then, beginning in the 1970s, all but disappeared.For generations, American Catholics went faithfully to confession, admitting their sins to a priest and accepting through him God’s forgiveness. The sacrament served as a distinctive marker of Catholic identity, shaping parishioners’ views of their relationship to God, their neighbors, and the wider world. But starting in the 1970s, many abandoned confession altogether. Focusing on the experiences of both laypeople and priests, James M. O’Toole reconstructs the history of confession’s steady rise—and dramatic fall—among American Catholics.In the early United States, the Catholic Church grew rapidly—and with it, confession’s centrality. Although the sacrament was practiced unevenly for much of the nineteenth century, frequent confession became common by the early twentieth. Both priests and parishioners understood confession as a ritual crucial for the soul, while on a social level, it established Catholic distinctiveness within a largely Protestant country. Today, however, even faithful Catholics seldom confess. The reasons for this change, O’Toole reveals, include the emergence of psychology and other forms of counseling; the Church’s stance against contraception, which alienated many parishioners; and a growing sense of confession’s inability to confront social problems like structural racism, poverty, and sexism. Meanwhile, increasing recognition of sexual abuse within the Church further undermined trust in clergy as confessors.Sensitively attuned to the historical importance of confession, For I Have Sinned also suggests that, if the sacrament no longer serves the needs of US Catholics, the Church and its members might find new ways to express their ideals in the twenty-first century.

"For generations, American Catholics... lived out their faith through countless unremarkable routines. Deep questions of theology usually meant little to them, but parishioners clung to deeply ingrained habits of devotion, both public and private. Particular devotions changed over time, waxing or waning in popularity, but the habits endured: going to mass on Sunday, saying prayers privately and teaching their children to do the same, filling their homes with crucifixes and other religious images, participating in special services, blending the church's calendar of feast and fast days with the secular cycles of work and citizenship, negotiating their conformity (or not) to the church's demands regarding sexual behavior and even diet.... It was religious practice, carried out in daily and weekly observance, that embodied their faith, more than any abstract set of dogmas."—from the IntroductionIn Habits of Devotion, four senior scholars take the measure of the central religious practices and devotions that by the middle of the twentieth century defined the "ordinary, week-to-week religion" of the majority of American Catholics. Their essays investigate prayer, devotion to Mary, confession, and the Eucharist as practiced by Catholics in the United States before and shortly after the Second Vatican Council.Contributors: Joseph P. Chinnic, O.F.M., Franciscan School of Theology; Paula M. Kane, University of Pittsburgh; Margaret M. McGuinness, Cabrini College; James M. O'Toole, Boston College

"For generations, American Catholics... lived out their faith through countless unremarkable routines. Deep questions of theology usually meant little to them, but parishioners clung to deeply ingrained habits of devotion, both public and private. Particular devotions changed over time, waxing or waning in popularity, but the habits endured: going to mass on Sunday, saying prayers privately and teaching their children to do the same, filling their homes with crucifixes and other religious images, participating in special services, blending the church's calendar of feast and fast days with the secular cycles of work and citizenship, negotiating their conformity (or not) to the church's demands regarding sexual behavior and even diet.... It was religious practice, carried out in daily and weekly observance, that embodied their faith, more than any abstract set of dogmas."—from the IntroductionIn Habits of Devotion, four senior scholars take the measure of the central religious practices and devotions that by the middle of the twentieth century defined the "ordinary, week-to-week religion" of the majority of American Catholics. Their essays investigate prayer, devotion to Mary, confession, and the Eucharist as practiced by Catholics in the United States before and shortly after the Second Vatican Council.Contributors: Joseph P. Chinnic, O.F.M., Franciscan School of Theology; Paula M. Kane, University of Pittsburgh; Margaret M. McGuinness, Cabrini College; James M. O'Toole, Boston College