Bookshelf: A Communion of Immigrants
This is one of those books I bought a few summers ago (yes, I know!) that I just now got around to reading! I enjoy books that deal with the topic of Catholics in America, and I thought this would be a good primer.
I was sort of right and sort of wrong. The book is really basic–if you’re a Catholic, lapsed, practicing, whatever, you will find some of the author’s explanations of every single Catholic thing really boring. You will also, if you are more devout, find it annoying that he sort of fudges the point on things, like talking about redemptive suffering as if it was a past idea and putting “consecration” in quotes when talking about the Eucharist.
The book traces the arrival of Catholics in America from the Spanish conquistadors and missionaries up until the 1990s. I didn’t read the last chapter because by that point I was sort of bored with the book. It touches on a lot of points but it’s so basic that unless you have no ideas on this topic, it’s not really worth reading. Also, it skims over some places and doesn’t give adequate attention to major figures of the faith in America, like St. Elizabeth Seton, and gives too much credence to publications like America.
So all in all, not a real winner, but at least I can cross if off my list of things to read. Hopefully I can find a better book on this same topic in the future.
