Immigrant Church, The

A dry survey of "ethnic" Catholicism before the Civil War. The introduction by Martin P. Mart,/ promises that the book will get beyond the "official tone or institutional awe" of most worlds on the American Church of the period, and Dolan does remind us how poor both the parishes and their members often were - though the faithful among both Irish and German Catholics tended to be skilled or at least semi-skilled workers. He describes basement services, landlords who controlled not only housing but food, and also indicates the social-control role of the Church in stressing resignation to God's will and one's station. The conflicts between Irish and Germans are not very interesting or colorful here; Dolan does acknowledge, however, how difficult it was for non-Bing Crosby priests to rally spiritual devotion among immigrants who had been, at best, indifferent worshippers in the old country. The book also touches on various devotional emphases - especially, of course, the "extraordinary" cult of the Virgin Mary - and the hardships of parochial schools. Dolan's style is geared to neither historians nor general readers: along with such near-tautologies as "Little Ireland was unlike Little Italy, and to a similar degree St. Patrick's was different from the Church of St. Anthony of Padua," we learn that "Although German Catholics did not support the temperance movement in New York, they did not come out in favor of intemperance." Most memorable among the gray historical odds-and-ends is the Church's unsuccessful campaign against the less than sacramental institution of the Irish wake. A disappointment, on the whole. (Kirkus Reviews)