About This Issue

About This Issue Nicholas Rademacher Richard Gribble (Stonehill College) traces Father Lewis Wattson's path from the Episcopal Church to the Roman Catholic Church and eventual founding of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement in his article, "A Conversion of Conviction: The Spiritual Journey of Fr. Lewis (Paul James Francis) Wattson, SA." Gribble identifies three key factors that led to Wattson's crossing the Tiber: his acceptance of papal primacy; the negative response to his suggestion in a 1901 speech that the Anglican Church return to Rome; and a change in Episcopal Church canon law around preaching. Deborah Cohen (University of Missouri-St. Louis) explores the significance of a pamphlet on the Bracero Program unearthed at Stanford University's Special Collections. In her article, "The 'Sound Social Base of Every Great Civilization': Family Farm, Catholic Priorities, Farmworkers, and the Bracero Program," she recounts her efforts to identify the source of the pamphlet and situate it within the broader context of U.S. Catholic teaching and advocacy on agriculture in the mid-twentieth century. She concludes with a nuanced view of the strengths and weaknesses of the church's stance at that time. In this issue's cover essay, "Beyond Boundaries: Reverend Charles Nerinckx and Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross," Annie E. Stevens (Webster University) examines Nerinckx's life and legacy on the 200th anniversary of his passing. A missionary from Belgium to the United States, Nerinckx founded the Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross in rural Kentucky in 1812. Stevens traces this history and reflects on its impact, especially around education for women, an interracial oblate program, and a short-lived Black sisterhood. She places these developments in context, noting both the advances and the limitations of Nerinckx's and the sisters' vision and action. This year marks the 25th anniversary of American Catholic Studies, which continued the Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, first published in 1884. In light of this anniversary, we have updated our cover design and made some other stylistic changes to the journal through the skillful assistance of our managing editor, Jeanette Fast Redmond. We are pleased to be celebrating this milestone in the journal's history with you. End Page i Nicholas Rademacher University of Dayton Copyright © 2024 American Catholic Historical Society