Faith of Our Fathers: An American Catholic History

Faith of Our Fathers traces the historical journey of American Catholics from a minority despised by the founding fathers to a valuable and accepted part of the American tapestry today. Author Edward Mannino, an historian and lawyer, demonstrates how Catholics have continuously functioned as a conscience in the broader American society, and surveys the contributions Catholics have made in the arts, in politics, in law, and in education and public health. Faith of Our Fathers contains chapters on Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, Fulton Sheen, Bruce Springsteen, Denise Levertov and John Berryman in the arts; Al Smith, Michael Harrington, and Robert Kennedy in politics; Catholic Supreme Court justices in law; and American nuns in education and public health. The book ends with a chapter on the portrayal of American Catholics in popular culture, showing how movies and television programs from the mid twentieth century through the present reflect a growing appreciation of the Catholic presence in America.