U.S. Catholic Schools and the Religious Who Served in Them: The Struggle to Continue the Tradition in the Post-Vatican II Era

Abstract

This last in a series of three articles surveying the contributions of the religious to U.S. Catholic schooling focuses upon these contributions during the decades following the close of the Second Vatican Council. In an era when control of Catholic schooling was in transition from the hands of the religious to their lay collaborators, these women and men extended the legacy of their forebears by continuing to give form to the mission and purpose of U.S. Catholic schooling””namely, what it means to be an American Catholic””for the youth of the post-Vatican II era. These young women and men will provide leadership for the American Catholic Church during the first decades of the new millennium. This last in a series of three articles surveying the contributions of the religious to U.S. Catholic schooling focuses upon these contributions during the decades following the close of the Second Vatican Council. In an era when control of Catholic schooling was in transition from the hands of the religious to their lay collaborators, these women and men extended the legacy of their forebears by continuing to give form to the mission and purpose of U.S. Catholic schooling””namely, what it means to be an American Catholic””for the youth of the post-Vatican II era. These young women and men will provide leadership for the American Catholic Church during the first decades of the new millennium.