About This Issue

Abstract

About This Issue Brett Grainger, Associate Editor This issue opens with “Preserving Black Catholic Archives: Creation and Use,” a three-part discussion of the archival riches of Xavier University of Louisiana by three women closely associated with the collections: “Xavier University of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections” by Nancy Hampton; “Dom Cyprian Davis, OSB and the Spirit of SANKOFA: Preserving the Legacy of Black Catholics,” by Kathleen Dorsey Bellow; and “Xavier University of Louisiana Archives as a Site for Learning, Researching, and Writing Black Catholic History,” by Cecilia A. Moore. During Martin Luther King Jr.’s Chicago Freedom Movement in 1966, a Franciscan sister suffered a head wound when hit by a brick thrown by an angry white Catholic. In “The Nun Hit by a Brick: Sister Angelica Schultz and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Chicago,” Jennifer Daubenmier (San Francisco State University) and Judith Daubenmier (independent scholar) examine Sister Angelica’s motivations in stepping into the street that day and how she leveraged her power as an ally for racial justice. In “The Natural Law and Interreligious Social Advocacy in the Civil Rights Era: The Case of William J. Kenealy, SJ,” Dennis J. Wieboldt, III (Boston College) examines the world of interreligious dialog in the decades before Nostra Aetate. Through a case study of William J. Kenealy—a pro-civil rights Jesuit priest and legal scholar, Wieboldt argues that Catholics effectively used the Natural Law as a foundation for interreligious advocacy for civil rights at mid-century. In this issue’s cover essay, “The Bottom Drawer: NETWORK’s Fifty Years of Political Ministry,” Mara D. Rutten explores a half-century of NETWORK, the organization of women religious founded with a Gospel mandate to work for justice and peace in contemporary society through political action. Finally, the editors wish to report an important change at the journal. For the past seventeen years, Leigh Anne McCabe has served as the journal’s managing editor. In that time, she has been the beating heart of ACS, keeping the production schedule on track, communicating with countless authors and book reviewers, pursuing tardy contributors with gentle reminders, and generally running the show. Leigh Anne recently accepted a promising new opportunity and, while she will be sorely missed, the editors extend their very best wishes and heartfelt gratitude for her immeasurable contributions to the journal. [End Page i] Copyright © 2023 American Catholic Historical Society