Catholic Social Science Review

Volume 10, 2005

Framing a Catholic Sociology for Today’s College Students: Historical Lessons and Questions from Furfey, Ross, and Murray, Part II

This is Part II of a continuing exploration of how to more effectively define and teach a Catholic sociology to today’s college students. In Part I, which appeared in the November 2004 issue of this journal, I examined how a specifically Catholic sociology was framed between about 1939 and 1970 in a number of widely used, explicitly Catholic, college-level sociology texts by three key authors of that era: Fr. Paul Hanly Furfey, Dr. Eva Ross, and Fr. Raymond Murray. They were part of a larger movement to shape college curricula and teaching advocated by the American Catholic Sociological Society. These authors developed textbooks that functioned as works of legitimation, works of foundation, and/or works of instruction. Part I dealt with the first two types; in this part I explore the last type, suggest some lessons we may learn from the pioneers’ efforts, and pose some crucial questions to consider today if we are to more successfully develop Catholic college-level sociology programs.