Final Examination of Mark S. Raphael
For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
October 1, 2009, 9:00 a.m. Caldwell Hall Room 125
Committee:
Chair: John White, Secretary: James Riley
Director: Christopher Kauffman
Readers: Leslie Tentler and Timothy Meagher
Summary of Coursework
HIST 572 Church in Colonial Latin America
HIST 585 Latin American Religion and Society,19th and 20th Centuries
TRS 520 Introduction to Church History
TRS 624 Church and Society in France
TRS 727B Formation of Orthodoxy
TRS 728C Council of Trent
TRS 728F Mission Territory: Young Church
TRS 825F The Catholic Church and the Press
TRS 897 Directed Research: Americanism
TRS 897 Directed Research: Church in Modern France
TRS 997 Doctoral Dissertation Guidance
Abstract
“John William Shaw, First American-born Archbishop of New Orleans” (1918-1934)
This dissertation represents a consideration of the leadership of John William Shaw, Bishop of San Antonio, Texas, from 1910 until 1918, and Archbishop of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1918 until his death in 1934, in terms of how he blended and applied his heritage as a Southerner, an Americanizer, and a Roman Catholic prelate to issues facing the American Catholic Church between the Civil War and the Great Depression. Research supporting this endeavor was built around the surviving primary sources stored in the three places Shaw served: Mobile, Alabama, San Antonio, and New Orleans. Supplementing the primary sources is a wide array of scholarly works on the region and on the issues of race and ethnicity, religion and politics, education and parish ministry, and sectionalism versus nationalism.
As a result of an assessment of both the primary and secondary sources it may be said that Shaw managed to accomplish a rare synthesis by remaining faithful to his Southern idealism at the same time he never wavered from pursuing an agenda of ecclesiastical Americanization. In the end his long term contribution was as an institution builder and a promoter of Americanism, while his limitations are most clearly seen in his attitudes toward immigrants and African-Americans. It is hoped that this dissertation will represent a useful addition to the scholarly literature dealing with a pivotal time in the history of Southern American Catholicism.
