Catholic Fundamentalism in America

Book cover

Catholic Fundamentalism in America

Randall Balmer
Dartmouth College

M. Cathleen Kaveny
Boston College

Mark Massa, S.J.
Boston College

James O'Toole
Boston College

Moderated by: James Keenan, S.J., Boston College

Date:听Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Time:听5:30 - 7pm
Location:听245 Beacon 107 Auditorium

Boston College Bookstore will be onsite selling copies of听Catholic Fundamentalism in America.

Catholic Fundamentalism in America听examines a new phenomenon in the U.S., which emerged听in the American Catholic Church in the decades after World War II. Protestant Fundamentalism has generated dozens of studies by a number of respected scholars; Catholic Fundamentalism has, until now, generated few studies. Further, the Catholic variety has been misunderstood as simply synonymous听with religious conservatism or traditionalism. This book looks at seven Catholic figures and movements that emerged after 1945 that embodied the distinct features of fundamentalism in America.

Headshot of Randall Balmer

Randall Balmer is the John Phillips Professor in Religion, the oldest endowed chair at Dartmouth College. Before coming to Dartmouth in 2012, he was a professor of American religious history at Columbia University for twenty-seven years. In addition, Balmer has been a visiting professor at Princeton, Yale, Emory, and Northwestern universities and in the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He was an adjunct professor of church history at Union Theological Seminary and, from 2004 to 2008, a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School.

An award-winning historian, Balmer is the author of more than a dozen books, including听Grant Us Courage: Travels along the Mainline of American Protestantism听and听Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter. His second book,听Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, now in its fifth edition, was made into a three-part documentary for PBS. Balmer was nominated for an Emmy for writing and hosting that series. He has published several reviews in听Washington Post Book World听and the听New York Times Book Review, and his commentaries on religion in America have appeared in newspapers across the country, including the听Los Angeles Times,听Washington Post,听Des Moines Register,听Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the听New York Times. Balmer听is also a CNN contributor.In 2024, Balmer was the recipient of the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion from the American Academy of Religion.

September 28, 2022 -- Cathleen Kaveny, Professor of Law, Boston College Law School.

M. Cathleen Kaveny听is a scholar who focuses on the relationship of law, religion, and morality, serves as the Darald and Juliet Libby Professor at Boston College, a position that includes appointments in both the department of theology and the law school. She is the first faculty member to hold such a joint appointment. A member of the Massachusetts Bar, Kaveny clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked as an associate at the Boston law firm of Ropes & Gray in its health law group. She was the 2018-2019 Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the Kluge Center of the Library of Congress. Kaveny has published four books and over a hundred articles and essays, in journals and books specializing in law, ethics, and medical ethics. She serves on the masthead of听Commonweal听as a regular columnist. Her books include听Law鈥檚 Virtues: Fostering Autonomy and Solidarity in American Society听(Georgetown University Press, 2012);听A Culture of Engagement: Law, Religion, and Morality听(Georgetown University Press, 2016);听Prophecy without Contempt: Religious Discourse in the Public Square听(Harvard University Press, 2016); and听Ethics at the Edges of Law: Christian Moralists and American Legal Thought听(Oxford University Press, 2018). Kaveny regularly teaches contract law to first-year law students. She also teaches a number of seminars which explore the relationship between theology, philosophy, and law, such as 鈥淔aith, Morality, and Law,鈥 鈥淢ercy and Justice,鈥 and 鈥淐omplicity.鈥 Kaveny is the chair of the board of trustees of the听Journal of Religious Ethics.听She has been the president of the Society of Christian Ethics, the major professional society for scholars of Christian ethics and moral theology in North America. It meets annually in conjunction with the Society of Jewish Ethics and the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics. Kaveny has served on a number of editorial boards including听The American Journal of Jurisprudence,听The Journal of Religious Ethics, the听Journal of Law and Religion, and听The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. She has been a visiting professor at Princeton University, Yale University, and Georgetown University, and a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago鈥檚 Martin Marty Center. From 1995 until 2013 she taught law and theology at the University of Notre Dame, where she was a John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law.听

Headshot of Mark Massa

Mark Massa, S.J., is the director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, where he is also professor of Theology. Massa received his Ph.D. in American religion from Harvard University, and is the author of eight books. His most recent book,听Catholic Fundamentalism in America,听is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. His monograph published in 1999,听Catholics and American Culture: Fulton Sheen, Dorothy Day, and the Notre Dame Football Team,听received the Alpha Sigma Nu Award for Best Work in Theology for 1999-2000. His ongoing area of research is American Catholic faith and culture of the past century.听As first holder of the Karl Rahner Chair in Theology at Fordham University, Massa also directed the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. From 2010 to 2016, he served as dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. He also served as board chair for the Boston Theological Institute, a consortium of nine divinity schools, seminaries, and a rabbinical college in greater Boston. Massa has appeared on a number of programs in the "American Experience" series on PBS, including "Religion in America," and most recently, "An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story."

Headshot of James O'Toole

James O'Toole is听the听University听Historian and Clough Professor of History Emeritus. His new book,听For I Have Sinned: The Rise and Fall of Catholic Confession in America, has just been published from Harvard University Press.

Castle, Jeremiah J., and Kyla K. Stepp. 鈥淧artisanship, Religion, and Issue Polarization in the United States: A Reassessment.鈥 Political Behavior 43, (2021): 1311鈥1335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09668-5.

Cuneo, Michael W. The Smoke of Satan: Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in Contemporary American Catholicism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Dolan, Jay P. In Search of an American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in Tension. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Douthat, Ross. 鈥淐atholic Ideas and Catholic Realities.鈥 First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life 315, (2021): 1-31. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A668607166/AONE?u=mlin_m_bostcoll&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=8640c595.

Griffin, Lauren H. 鈥淗ow #Trad Catholics Challenge Current Constructions of Christian Nationalism: Counterknowledge, Masculinity, and Elite Aesthetics on Instagram.鈥 Journal of Media and Religion 23, no. 1鈥4 (2024): 50鈥73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2024.2408970.

Johnson, David, and Jennifer Priestley. 鈥淎 鈥楽anctified鈥 Language: A Sociolinguistic Study of the Perception of Latin and its Role in the Mass for American Catholics.鈥 Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 18, no. 8 (2022): 1-29. https://www.religjournal.com/pdf/ijrr18008.pdf.

Massa, Mark S. Catholic Fundamentalism in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025.

Shaw, Russell B. American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2013.

Vermurlen, Brad, Mark Regnerus, and Stephen Cranney. 鈥淭he Ongoing Conservative Turn in the American Catholic Priesthood.鈥 Sociological Spectrum 43, no. 2-3 (2023): 72鈥88. https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2023.2215461.

In a nation marked by rapidly changing attitudes toward religion, studying young people in the U.S. is a good place to start to see how these changing beliefs are materializing. National Catholic Reporter the rise of radical 鈥渢rad鈥 Catholics in the younger generation of the faithful. While the article鈥檚 author, Stephen G. Adubato, has defended certain parts of this movement in the past, he expresses concern over the increasingly ideological nature of the movement. Rather than engaging in a tradition passed down from generation to generation, this group finds itself embracing identitarian individualism in fringe internet spaces. The bland spirituality offered by many middle-class, suburban parishes provides a context where it is understandable why young people are flocking to alternative communities. However, these isolated echo chambers can often lead to a vision of the Church that is antithetical to the Great Commission that was instituted by Christ. As an alternative, the author mentions how organizations like Sant鈥橢gidio and Focolare allow young people to embrace the legacy of the Church, while also not fearing engagement with the modern world. Issues like the one discussed in this article are crucial to the story that Mark Massa, S.J. fleshes out in his featured event and new book, Catholic Fundamentalism in America.

Panel on Mark Massa's latest book

A panel of experts gather to discuss Mark Massa's latest book, Catholic Fundamentalism in America. (L to R): James Keenan, S.J., Randall Balmer, Mark Massa, S.J., M. Cathleen Kaveny, and James O'Toole.

James Keenan, S.J moderator

James Keenan, S.J. serves as the moderator for our panel.

Randal Balmer

听听Randall Balmer, professor at Dartmouth College, shared his comments at the panel. He also reviewed Mark Massa's book for Oxford University Press.

Mark Massa and Cathy Kaveny laughing

Mark Massa, S.J. comments during M. Cathleen Kaveny's remarks, causing her to laugh.

James O'Toole

James O'Toole grew up ten minutes from Harvard, MA, where the Feeneyites lived. He brought in an old book of the听Saints,听which was听produced and sold by Feeney's followers,听that he found听in his childhood home.听

Photo credits: Christopher Soldt, MTS

After an eventful semester, the Boisi Center鈥檚 evening lectures culminated with a panel discussing Boisi Center director Mark Massa鈥檚 newest book, Catholic Fundamentalism in America (Oxford University Press, 2025). Members of the Boston College community flocked to this thought-provoking and engaging event. The panel, which was moderated by James Keenan, S.J. (the Vice Provost for Global Engagement, Canisius Professor, and director of The Jesuit Institute), welcomed Randall Balmer, the John Phillips Chair in Religion at Dartmouth College; M. Cathleen Kaveny, the Darald and Juliet Libby Millenium Professor at the Law School and Theology Department of Boston College; and James O鈥橳oole, the Charles I. Clough Professor of History Emeritus and University Historian of Boston College, to engage with Mark Massa, S.J. about his novel characterization of Catholic Fundamentalism.

After introductions, the panelists shared their initial impressions of the book. While they each brought in their own perspectives relevant to their respective fields, many commonalities were expressed by the panelists. Each participant in the panel mentioned how much they learned from this book, which dove more deeply into the history of familiar characters and ideas. While they had heard of figures like Mother Angelica, Leonard Feeney, and Gommar DePauw, they expressed awe at the new connections made and insights shared by Massa. Balmer asked about Massa鈥檚 decision to use the term 鈥渇undamentalist鈥 to describe these related groups of people, and noted his astute observation that controlling women seems to be a shared fundamentalist practice. Kaveny pointed out the vast differences between these fundamentalists and the Magisterium and wondered what can be done about the two diverging paradigms in relation to dialogue and synodality, especially for Catholic ethicists like herself. O鈥橳oole thought about the larger social, political, and historical contexts when reading the book and noticed the interplay of religion and political forces that sparked these fringe impulses. The esteemed panelists continued the conversation by providing insights into the role of women in these movements, the role of exposure to non-Catholic spaces, and other topics that shed light on some of the larger problems posed by the fundamentalist spirit in our country. Before Massa began responding to the panel, Keenan offered his own comment about the significance of this text, as it seems as though the author may have just given these groups their genealogy.

The quick wit of Massa was evident when he began his response by noting that, because of this book, he had been denounced by all the right people. Aside from discussing some of the methodological issues when completing his work, he clarified some blurred lines between fundamentalists and other Catholics by listing sectarianism, primitivism, apocalypticism, and other criteria that define this specific impulse. He noted that those who cling to these ideas may be misguided, but nonetheless, the ideas hold power in the minds of many and should be taken seriously. The event closed with a diverse array of questions from 糖心vlog直播平台 alumni, faculty, staff, students, and Jesuits. As always, we hope that the success of this event and others can drive the mission of the Boisi Center and spark future conversations that explore the intersection of religion and American public life.