Saving the Heartland

Exploring the Catholic agrarian agenda and the theological vision that motivated it, the author interprets the influence of prominent twentieth-century Catholics such as radio priest Charles Coughlin, converts Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, European Catholic apologists G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, and Popes Pius X, XI and XII. Also brings to light for the first time the work of religious leagues, street preachers and the priests and nuns who roamed the countryside to spread religious and rural reform through loudspeakers and tent meetings. Striving to make their beliefs applicable in the familiar realms of work and family, Catholic agrarians played a pivotal role in the development of the American Midwest and the twentieth-century Catholic Church. This first comprehensive picture of the Catholic missionary experience in rural America reveals a new dimension of American religious history.