After reading the chapters by Thusen and especially Fisher, it would seem that Christian social action isn't as mainstream today as it was back in the early twentieth century. I'm not sure if I can think of any characters today who would parallel the highly political Father Coghlin or Father Duffy, or Al Smith, who ran against Herbert Hoover for office and whose Catholic religion was very controversial. It seems that today, government social programs have overshadowed the Christian social movement, and perhaps taken the wind out of it's sails, as they've decreased the necessity of such a movement. But I thought it was interesting when Dorothy Day stated her disapproval of government social programs, saying that they enslaved the poor in a dependant relationship with the federal government. This stood out to me, as most workers fighting for the poor and suffering support federal social programs. Along with this, it seemed that while Catholics in the early twentieth century spanned the political spectrum, more were aligned with a liberal viewpoint. Today, on the other hand, Catholics still span the political spectrum, but I would estimate that more align themselves with a more conservative way of thinking. This change also interested me.
But politics and social programs aside, Catholics and other Christians today are certainly still concerned with the welfare of the poor. This is exemplified in our own Loras college, with the many social trips that students have taken around the world. And even around the Dubuque community, Loras students participate in service for the poor. The Christian churches around the community still do a small part in social service, but I feel that it just isn't as strong as it was back in the early twentieth century, as described by Thusen and Fisher. You certainly don't see anything like what Dorothy Day started today. But at the same time, we aren't in the throes of a Great Depression like in the '30s (at least, not yet).
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Very interesting post! I agree that religious institutions have been less involved with social movement than they were in the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteI also found Dorothy Day's comments about the dependence on government interesting. I thought she later proved to be correct when major social projects like Chicago Public Housing didn't work out.
I do think a major part of why we don't see anything like Dorothy Day started in the United States is that we don't necessarily need that here. I think the closest person in current times (well, she died over 10 years ago, but her programs are still in place) would be Mother Theresa. I think it probably helped that India has far more impovershed people than we do in the United States. Actually, some of her sisters have come to the US to feed the poor in cities (Chicago has one).
This was very well written! (Much better than mine, I apologize... it kind of went all over the place.) Nice work!