By Emily Smith Religions big and small from all corners of the world have their own symbols that define and represent the faiths that give purpose and direction to millions around the world. For example, the cross in Christianity, the crescent and star in Islam, the Star of David in Judaism, and the yin-yang of…
Habit and Hijab: A Feminist Movement
Women’s History Month inspires us to delve deeper into what shapes women’s identities both in the United States and abroad. The cultural understanding of femininity is presented in various ways and is often reflected in women’s clothing. Women face societal pressures in deciding how to present their bodies in a more “acceptable” way. Religious based…
La Santa Muerte: Lived Religion
The idea of a singular Catholicism is a misunderstanding, Catholicism takes many forms and people practice and choose what works for them. The institution which is the Vatican might try to impose its authority and legitimacy on the laypeople, priest, bishops, nuns, etc. but all these people have agency in choosing to how they wish…
Catholics and Protestants in dialogue: the importance of ecumenism
Nowadays, more than ever, we live in a world that offers many different religions and systems of beliefs, all claiming to be in possession of the Truth. Or at least, part of the Truth, since even the existence of a universal, objective Truth is questioned. Everything is relative, it is said. Though it is evident…
The “Solar Pope” and Catholic Kitsch
Material culture plays a vital role in Catholicism and is central to the lives of many Catholics. Traditional holy relics and saintly figurines facilitate a relationship with the divine and are a testament to the presence of God in the daily lives of devout, pious Catholics. But Catholic material culture is varied and diverse, and…
The Charismatic Catholic Renewal: Not a Movement of the Church, but the Church in Movement
In February of 1967 a group of students on retreat at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania spent a weekend in prayer where they invoked the Holy Spirit and asked God to allow them to experience the graces of Pentecost. The students began to undergo manifestations of the Holy Spirit, such as sleeping in the Spirit, prophesying,…
The Abuse and Exploitation of Children by the Catholic Church: A History
By Maggie Smith My introduction to the widespread sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests was the movie Spotlight, based on the true story of the Boston Globe Spotlight investigation team that revealed the abuse of children in the diocese of Boston. I saw the movie with my mom, and I remember walking out of…
The Change in the Catholic Identity
Growing up in a Catholic family, that became increasingly lax in their beliefs and morals, and thus, their identity, I have now come to question why individuals are now becoming negligent in their faith. As a child, I explicitly remember being awoken every weekend at precisely eight o’clock in the morning to get dressed in…
Religious Grooming: Planting the Seeds of Catholic Sexual Assault
By Delaney Hewitt While attending mass with my family at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, in August of 2018, I listened to my parish priest issue an apology on behalf of the Diocese of Kalamazoo to all Catholics, especially the victims, whose trust in the Catholic Church was soiled by the recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury…
RELG 123
This course introduces students to Catholic life in the Americas, from colonial encounter to the present. By engaging with primary documents and ethnographic texts we explore the everyday texture of Catholic life and how Catholics negotiate issues of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, and immigration through devotions and religious rituals. This course encourages students to think…
Catholics in the Americas 