A Catholic Pilgrimage through American History
People and Places that Shaped the Church in the United States
by Kevin Schmiesing
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Pub Date Apr 08 2022 | Archive Date May 20 2022
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Description
Historian Kevin Schmiesing takes you to more than two-dozen sites and events that symbolize and embody America’s rich and sometimes tumultuous Catholic past, including the Santa Fe Trail, Gettysburg, and the Bourbon Trail. You’ll also meet both famous and infamous Catholics—including Augustus Tolton, Dr. Samuel Mudd, and Francis Cabrini—who impacted our nation’s history.
The idea for A Catholic Pilgrimage through American History came from Schmiesing’s mother, he says. She turned every childhood vacation into a pilgrimage, purposely inserting religious sites into the family’s journey to places such as Niagara Falls, Washington, DC, or Myrtle Beach.
Catholics have been part of the American experiment since the beginning—in founding the colonies and expanding the west, building education and health care systems, abolishing slavery, fighting on the front lines, and advancing science, technology, and space exploration. Each of the twenty-seven sites on Schmiesing’s virtual itinerary—including the Washington Monument, Wounded Knee Creek, the University of Notre Dame, and Mission San Diego de Alcalá—transports you to a significant time in US history and connects the dots to our Catholic heritage. You will meet notable Catholics such as John F. Kennedy, Black Elk, and Katharine Drexel, and learn more about their contributions to history.
You will explore the various and sometimes conflicting roles Catholics have played in key periods and events through the stories of shrines, memorials, and other historic places including:
· the Catholic Plymouth Rock—St. Mary’s City, Maryland;
· the Bourbon Trail—Church of St. Thomas, Bardstown, Kentucky;
· the Pope’s Stone—the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia;
· a Catholic mission and a Native American tragedy: Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota; and
· the home of the first Black priest—the churches of Quincy, Illinois.
A Note From the Publisher
Schmiesing is cohost of the podcast Catholic History Trek on Spotify and YouTube and has contributed to Catholic World Report and Crisis magazine. He is the author of Merchants and Ministers and Within the Market Strife and editor of One and Indivisible, Catholicism and Historical Narrative, and The Spirit Matters.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville and a doctorate in United States history from the University of Pennsylvania.
Advance Praise
“This book is a guide for travelers willing to go in any direction in search of the truth about themselves, because that’s what we’re looking for when we pursue history.”
From the foreword by Mike Aquilina
Author of A History of the Church in 100 Objects
“An eye-opening look at a past—often inspiring and occasionally scandalous—about which many American Catholics know far too little.”
Russell Shaw
Author of the American Church
“History textbooks have usually told the American story as a fundamentally Protestant story that grows increasingly secular over time. Rarely is Catholic America integrated into our national macro-narrative. When you finish your trip through Catholic American history you’ll know just how wrong has been the traditional telling of our story and you’ll find new possibilities for our future.”
Al Kresta
President and CEO of Ave Maria Radio
Host of Kresta in the Afternoon
"Kevin Schmiesing does a masterful job of bringing US history and Catholic history together in an informative, entertaining, and essential book. Every Catholic in America should own a copy!”
Marge Steinhage Fenelon
Author of My Queen, My Mother
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781646800902 |
| PRICE | |
Featured Reviews
Janet P, Reviewer
Using places, well-known and not well-known, as the starting point, this book examines American history through a Catholic lens. Beginning with the founding of St. Augustine's church and ending with the presence of a moon rock in a Catholic high school in Ohio, you'll learn so much in each of the chapters.
I loved that the author did not shy away from controversial topics and events, but always presented them in an even-handed way, too often absent in current works. You'll easily be able to take a fruitful armchair pilgrimage with this book.
Diane F, Librarian
A look at some of the important people and places in American history that were influenced or impacted by Catholics. In well researched, engaging chapters, Schmiesing examines such places as the Washington Monument and the University of Notre Dame and such people as Mother Cabrini and the first Black priest ordained in America. This is a bit of a travel guide, a bit of a biography. Easy to read and filled with tidbits that are both entertaining and informative. Although certainly aimed at a Catholic audience, anyone interested in American history will enjoy reading this book. I grew up Catholic and spent 12 years in Catholic school, but many of the stories here were new to me. I learned a lot, and now I want to visit some of these sites.
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