The Dirty 30s

1
The Dirty 30s

• Christian reaction to the Depression

2
The Great Depression's effect

• Difficult time for the older Protestant
  denominations
• Sectarian Protestants were better suited to
  adapt
• Fundamentalists
• Southern Baptists
• Seventh-Day Adventists

3
Difficulty convincing others

• It was difficult to express a convincing
  Christian faith
• A few younger fundamentalists wanted to find a
  way to be less combative and more intellectually
  respected
• Liberal protestants found it hard to clarify
  theological issues
• Some Christians even turned to ideas of communism

4
(No Transcript)
5
The Catholic Church

• Numbers continued to increase
• Economic resources also continued to increase
• Thomas Aquinas became the main influence
• Societal perceptions received an increase with
  the concept of the Catholic Action organization

6
Catholic Action

• Concept
• Laity could shape social and economic areas of
  life in a distinctly Christian way
• Lead by Fr. Reynold Hillenbrand and a network of
  layman
• Dedicated to Christian renewal and outreach
• Not as well known as the
• Catholic Worker outside of
• the church

7
The Catholic Worker

• Founded by Dorothy Day an Peter Maurin
• Aim To live in accordance with the Justice and
  Charity of Jesus Christ
• Belief in the God-given dignity of every human
  person
• Committed to non-violence,voluntary poverty, and
  the works of mercy as a way of life
• Soon a house of hospitality was opened by
  founders

8
Peter Maurin

• Philosopher
• Chiefly responsible for the Catholic worker's
  visionary qualities
• Born in France in 1877 to a peasant family
• Became active in a lay movement in France
• Moved to Canada in 1909
• Worked as a janitor in New York in 1932
• Met Dorothy in December of that year
• Stressed the renewal of hospitality

9
Dorothy Day

• Catholic convert
• Freelance journalist
• Born in Brooklyn in 1897
• Went to the university of illinois in1914
• http//www.dorothydaydoc.com/trailer.html
• First edition of the worker printed in May of
• 1933 and the number being printed
• quadrupled by December

10
Political influence

• in the US because of the many different churches
  and the many different beliefs being pushed on
  the government not much got done politically
• In contrast, in Canada politics inspired by
  religion flourished

11
Questions

• Even though there were so many huge events that
  happened many smaller more personal events had a
  larger impact on peoples' lives. Why do you think
  this is?
• Why do you think Dorothy Day said Do not call me
  a saint, I don't want to be dismissed so easily?