Mary Ellen Konieczny
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199965779
- eISBN:
- 9780199346059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199965779.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter 2, “Belonging,” examines the ongoing process of Catholic identity construction through the personal religious narratives told at Assumption and St. Brigitta in order to show how these ...
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Chapter 2, “Belonging,” examines the ongoing process of Catholic identity construction through the personal religious narratives told at Assumption and St. Brigitta in order to show how these identity boundaries are constructed in ways that result in polarizing tendencies surrounding moral issues related to family life. These discourses are contextualized by a culture of religious choice on the American religious landscape and by the historical Church reforms of Vatican II. They reflect each parish setting's local culture, as well as different patterns of generational difference and relations with parishioners’ families of origin. These narratives both create in-group solidarity and establish their distinctiveness from others, including from other Catholics, especially by each group's distinctive and opposed criticisms of the Catholic Church, which contributes to and supports polarizing tendencies surrounding family-related issues.Less
Chapter 2, “Belonging,” examines the ongoing process of Catholic identity construction through the personal religious narratives told at Assumption and St. Brigitta in order to show how these identity boundaries are constructed in ways that result in polarizing tendencies surrounding moral issues related to family life. These discourses are contextualized by a culture of religious choice on the American religious landscape and by the historical Church reforms of Vatican II. They reflect each parish setting's local culture, as well as different patterns of generational difference and relations with parishioners’ families of origin. These narratives both create in-group solidarity and establish their distinctiveness from others, including from other Catholics, especially by each group's distinctive and opposed criticisms of the Catholic Church, which contributes to and supports polarizing tendencies surrounding family-related issues.
