Untitled - Digitizing America

Changing Amertca
he 1950's brought back memories of
other decades. We were again at war---except it
was officially known as "a poliee action." Racial
prejudice came under government fire, with President
Truman's Executive Order, in 1948, ending
segregation in the armed forces and then the outlawing
of selregation in public schools in 1954also
the year in which "Under God" was added to
the Pledge of Allegiance. Confraternities of Christian
Doctrine and Decent Literature Committees
assumed new importance. Parish-to-servicemen
publications and holiday-gift-package programs
were revived. And, in '1959, two new states joined
the Union.
But the Sixties, for the Church, the country, the
world, embraced an astonishing number of
turning-points. When the decade opened with a
Catholic of lrish heritage being nominated for the
presidency, there were some KKK rumblings. But
an era of total openness and instant communication
was in full swing, and would be enforced and
emphasized by the fresh, clear spirit of "Aggiornamento"
provided by Pope John XXlll and the
Second Vatican Council. The American people
sought to be well-informed and, as historian Francis
J. Lally states in The Catholic Church ln A
Ch an g i ng Am e ric a: "The characteristic fairness of
Americans saw to it that in unfriendly areas where
Catholics and the Catholic position seemed to be
under attack, equal time and equal space were
provided for Catholic rejoinders and for explanations
of the true position of the Church on vexing
questions. No one can estimate the direct fruits of
this exposure in terms of votes, but one thing is
sure: many ancient illusions were dispelled simply
by the dissemination of authentic information on
religious matters into areas formerly closed
against it."
One of Pope John )filll's first concerns when he
ascended the Pontiff's throne in 1958 had been
the convening of an Ecumenical Council. One of
John Kennedy's first acts as President of the
United States was the creation of the Peace
Corps. The world was becoming ever closer to
unity and brotherhood. Ecumenism was the upcoming
byword.
The post-war building boom had started a population
movement that carried over into the Sixties. A
typical shift would see an inner-city parish, in the
span of a decade, evolve from lrish step-dancing
and feis celebrations to fiestas and soul food. As
various ethnic groups fled city ghettoes and immigrants
of other nationalities refilled them, as
younger people married and moved up and out
into new subdivisions, while their Social Securitysupported
parents remained rooted, as whole
39