Overview

Uncovers why Catholic organizations fail to foster civic activism The American Catholic Church boasts a long history of teaching and activism on issues of social justice. In the face of declining religious and community involvement in the twenty-first century, many modern-day Catholic groups aspire to revive the faith as well as their connections to the larger world. Yet while thousands attend weekly meetings designed to instill religiosity and a commitment to civic engagement, these programs often fail to achieve their more large-scale goals. In Catholic Activism Today, Maureen K. Day sheds light on the impediments to successfully enacting social change. She argues that popular organizations such as JustFaith Ministries have embraced an approach to civic engagement that focuses on mobilizing Catholics as individuals rather than as collectives. There is reason to think this approach is effective—these organizations experience robust participation in their programs and garner reports of having had a transformative effect on their participants’ lives. Yet, Day shows that this approach encourages participants to make personal lifestyle changes rather than contend with structural social inequalities, thus failing to make real inroads in the pursuit of social justice. Moreover, the focus on the individual serves to undermine the institutional authority of the Catholic Church itself, shifting American Catholics’ perceptions of the Church from a hierarchy that controls the laity to one that simply influences it as they pursue their individual paths. Drawing on three years of interview, survey, and participant observation data, Catholic Activism Today offers a compelling new take on contemporary dynamics of Catholic civic engagement and its potential effect on the Church at large.

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9781479851331

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Reviews

With empathic sensitivity to the twists and turns in individuals' lives and their spiritual journeys, Maureen Day illuminates the centrality of Catholic faith and purposeful community in cultivating impactful civic engagement notwithstanding the structural forces that foster economic and social inequality. Using thoughtful interview and observation data, her gentle, yet rigorous, narrative persuades us that individuals' everyday decisions and actions have a ripple effect in the crafting of a better, more morally authoritative, society. -- Michele Dillon, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, University of New Hampshire Masterfully captures the contemporary relocation of Catholic activism from institution-building to personal transformation. Catholic Activism Today offers vital lessons for modern religious practice, the public role of Catholicism, and the dilemmas of individualism for enacting justice. -- Tricia C. Bruce, author of Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church The hope among the leadership at JustFaith Ministries is that the caring and activism learned therein will 'ripple outward' amid the everyday lives of its participants. Interestingly, it is just this sort of rippling that is so abundantly evident in Maureen Day's thoughtful and engaging study. Flowing from her analysis of this discipleship-style organization come ever-widening insights regarding contemporary American Catholicism, the strategies and dilemmas associated with grassroots activism, and, undulating still further, the prospects of living meaningful, generative lives at a time when possibilities for doing so seem to be constricting. I hope this important book will find a readership proportionate to the impressively broad scope of its concerns. -- Jerome P. Baggett, author of Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith This readable, professional treatment of JustFaith Ministries puts the organization in the context of a larger social movement within American Catholicism. * Choice * Day's analysis of Catholic activism is valuable ... sheds light on how religious actors can have unique impacts on their own local contexts * Catholic Books Review * Catholic Activism Today provides an enlightening study of how Catholic organizations, like JustFaith Ministries, are transforming individuals to engage American public life in creative new ways. * Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses * Serves as an illuminating case for anyone interested in civic engagement, religious or not, especially in the tensions between justice and charity. For sociologists and theologians alike, Day also offers thought-provoking discussion about the role of the Catholic Church in the American public square. * Sociology of Religion * Day's thought-provoking study of the emergent discipleship style of American public Catholicism is most helpful to scholars seeking to understand contemporary Catholic life and the newest wave of Catholic civic engagement. * Studies in Religion *

With empathic sensitivity to the twists and turns in individuals' lives and their spiritual journeys, Maureen Day illuminates the centrality of Catholic faith and purposeful community in cultivating impactful civic engagement notwithstanding the structural forces that foster economic and social inequality. Using thoughtful interview and observation data, her gentle, yet rigorous, narrative persuades us that individuals' everyday decisions and actions have a ripple effect in the crafting of a better, more morally authoritative, society. -- Michele Dillon, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, University of New Hampshire Masterfully captures the contemporary relocation of Catholic activism from institution-building to personal transformation. Catholic Activism Today offers vital lessons for modern religious practice, the public role of Catholicism, and the dilemmas of individualism for enacting justice. -- Tricia C. Bruce, author of Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church The hope among the leadership at JustFaith Ministries is that the caring and activism learned therein will 'ripple outward' amid the everyday lives of its participants. Interestingly, it is just this sort of rippling that is so abundantly evident in Maureen Day's thoughtful and engaging study. Flowing from her analysis of this discipleship-style organization come ever-widening insights regarding contemporary American Catholicism, the strategies and dilemmas associated with grassroots activism, and, undulating still further, the prospects of living meaningful, generative lives at a time when possibilities for doing so seem to be constricting. I hope this important book will find a readership proportionate to the impressively broad scope of its concerns. -- Jerome P. Baggett, author of Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith

Author Information

Maureen K. Day is a Research Affiliate at the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies and author of Catholic Activism Today: Individual Transformation and the Struggle for Social Justice.

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