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Select a Month December 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 March 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008

February 2019

February 01, 2019

McNamara’s Blog Celebrates Black History Month

Although November is officially Black Catholic History Month, I didn’t return to Patheos until its...

January 2019

January 31, 2019

Love Before Fear: St. John Bosco and the Salesian Charism

Do you want to do a good deed? Teach the young! Do you want to...

January 30, 2019

Making History: Dr. James McCartin, Theology Department, Fordham University

This new column in McNamara’s Blog profiles historians and archivists who make American Catholic history...

January 29, 2019

“A Million Foreigners, Most of Them Papists”: The Anti-Papal Panic of the 1910’s

The historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., once called anti-Catholicism America’s most persistent prejudice. For much of...

January 26, 2019

St. Mary Euphrasia and the Good Shepherd Charism

“It is not enough that you love them; they must know that you love them.”--- St....

January 25, 2019

Peace and Good at Graymoor

Pain can be healed. Hate can be turned to love. Division can be turned to unity. The Church...

January 24, 2019

Christopher Columbus and Notre Dame: A Church Historian’s Perspective

Among institutes of higher education, Notre Dame has a storied place in American Catholic culture...

January 24, 2019

St. Joseph‘s School for the Deaf Celebrates 150 Years in the Bronx

In the Fall of 1869, in the Bronx’s then-rural Fordham section, a girls’ academy opened...

January 22, 2019

Who’s It Named For? Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy (1884-1956)

He has a college, a high school, and a retreat house named named for him:...

January 21, 2019

Catholics in the Military: Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore (1922-2017)

“All through my life, I’ve tried to keep in mind that our purpose is to...

January 11, 2019

“A Victorian Mother Teresa”: Servant of God Elizabeth Prout (1820-1864)

During the Industrial Revolution, Manchester became England’s leading manufacturing center. In 1844, Friedrich Engels, co-author...

January 08, 2019

Catholics in the Movies: J. Carrol Naish (1896-1973)

He was known as “Hollywood’s one-man U.N.” for the various characters he played: Italians, Native...

January 07, 2019

Katherine Burton and the Future of Catholic Biography

Let me make a confession: I have no head for philosophy or theology. It’s too...

January 06, 2019

Who’s It Named For? General Judson Kilpatrick Columbiettes, Vernon, N.J.

The Columbiettes are an organization of Catholic women connected to the Knights of Columbus. They...

January 05, 2019

New Biography of St. Aloysius Hits the Mark

Silas S. Henderson, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J., With an Unidivided Heart (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius...

January 04, 2019

Newly Made Saints: St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877-1940)

The Church is never short of saints, and I always enjoy learning about new ones....

January 03, 2019

Holy Name Rally at Ebbets Field Attracts 60,000 Catholic Men, May 1941

Since the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated as an optional memorial...

January 02, 2019

“A Shame and a Scandal”: Black Catholics Fight Racism

This day in 1889 marks the birth of the National Black Catholic Congress. On January...

January 01, 2019

Looking Forward in 2019: Some American Catholic History Anniversary Dates

Friends, as we begin a new year, here are some anniversary dates to keep in...

December 2018

December 31, 2018

Looking Back at 2018: Some Anniversary Dates in American Catholic History

Here are some of the anniversaries that we commemorated in McNamara’s Blog for 2018:...

December 30, 2018

From West Point to the Priesthood: Father George Deshon, C.S.P.

Today marks the passing in 1903 of a seminal figure in early Paulist history,...

December 29, 2018

Three Giants of Brooklyn Catholicism

On this day in three separate years, three significant figures in the early history of...

December 28, 2018

Who’s It Named For? Corrigan Hall, Seton Hall University

As we travel around the nations's Catholic college campuses this week, we come to Seton...

December 27, 2018

The Briordys of Brooklyn

A major reason I got into American Catholic history was to better understand my own...

December 26, 2018

New Books on Catholics and the American Civil War

As readers might guess, I've long been interested in the intersection between Catholic history and...

December 25, 2018

When Catholics Swept the Oscars

On Christmas Day, I always enjoy watching movies with a spiritual theme, and one of...

December 22, 2018

Soon-to-be Saints: Servant of God Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin (1770-1840)

Today marks the birth of a priest known as “the Apostle of the Alleghenies,” one...

December 21, 2018

What’s in a Name? Canisius College, Buffalo, New York (1870)

Founded in 1870 in downtown Buffalo, Canisius College is one of twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and...

December 20, 2018

Gerard Manley Hopkins: Finding God in All Things

In 1800’s England, becoming Catholic was, writes historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, “a fate worse than death.”...

December 19, 2018

Who’s Buried in Catholic Cemeteries: Mayor William R. Grace (1832-1904)

Michael Bloomberg wasn't the first New York Mayor to learn Spanish. That distinction belongs to...