Historical Amnesia Part III:
The American Catholic Interlude
1947-1959--Post World War II to the Pre-Vatican II Era
by Robert E. Carbonneau, C.P., Ph.D.
American public culture and world awareness is more evident in the Passionists Chapter of St. Paul of the Cross Province (1947-1959) than in any time during the twentieth century. Qualities of religious leadership, expansion of new monasteries and ministries in the eastern province, and a kind of respectful, but definite anti-modern battle are among the themes that come across in the era under study. In part the growth is pronounced quite clearly through the use of statistics in 1953 and 1959. Hope is obvious in the explosion of Passionist ministries.
domestic missionaries, retreat masters and retreat directors average over 1400 missions, retreats and novenas a year. 46,733 laymen made week-end retreats; over 4,000 priests made their annual retreats from 1951 to July 1953. The Sign circulation increased from 210, 000 in 1951 to over 283,000 in June 1953. The three Passionist Colored Missions in North Carolina received over 82,000 dollars.
Professed religious numbered 537 religious: 416 priests, 80 students, and 41 brothers. It is of interest to note that brothers are listed numerically after students for it shows the ongoing struggle for the place of lay brothers within Passionist religious and clerical culture. The Sign had given "great financial assistance for the Province and our missions.... [and] in spite of many obstacles" continued its growth. Circulation went from 283,000 to 375,000 receiving mention before the preaching apostolate of 1,323 missions; 2,021 retreats, 750 week-end retreats in Passionist retreat houses; 639 novenas; and 332 tridua. Laymen and priests making retreats in Passionist houses numbered 65,187 and 3,762 priests, respectively. One wonders how the increasing ministry with Catholic women in the retreat ministries was being understood and interpreted at this time.
The Hour of the Crucified Radio Show also made the statistical list. Begun on Ash Wednesday, 1954 in Holyoke, MA the audience had become international being broadcast on 122 commercial stations in the U.S. as well as by outlets in Canada, Panama, Australia and the Philippines. Armed Forces Radio enabled the program to reach 72 independent stations. The Passionist Vocational Film, Modern Crusaders, was praised for its over 220 showings which reached over 19,000 people. Shown to prospective candidates of religious life as well as parents and teachers, a TV print film had reached a possible audience of 5,000,000.
The new mission in Jamaica, West Indies possessed statistical merit. 10 of 88 priests there were Passionists. Mission territory was over 818 square miles with 3,000 Catholics out of a population of 200,000. Since the Passionists' arrival in 1955, 559 adults had been received into the faith; Sunday Mass and school attendance had doubled and a building program was underway despite "the spirit amongst the people as a whole is deeply Protestant, coupled with superstition among the ignorant." The Philippines mission was served by 15 priests and 1 brother. The task at hand was "preserving the faith more than spreading the faith." Of 275,000 Filipinos on Southern Cotabato approximately 90% were Catholic.
On the domestic front between 1956 and 1959 1,265 missions, 2,276 retreats, 537 novenas, 313 tridua were preached. 75,669 laymen and 3,661 priests made retreats in Passionist houses.
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