Abstract
Abstract: In a very transnational fashion, priestly misbehavior is a constant feature in the primary sources dealing with the United States and British North America, including Québec, between 1763 and 1846. Rather than a catalogue of occurrences, this article briefly surveys the three main elements of such misbehavior, namely, illicit sex, immoderate drinking, and excessive avariciousness. It then suggests an interpretative grid where behavioral norms were interpreted differently whenever they were challenged by local conditions, leading to accusations of misbehavior whether these accusations reflected actual wrongdoings or not. Ethnic rivalries, different institutional traditions, conflicting political choices, and Protestant competition are the most likely candidates to populate such a large framework.
Highlights
In a very transnational fashion, priestly misbehavior is a constant feature in the primary sources dealing with the United States and British North America, including Québec, between 1763 and 1846
How has my country – region, state, province, city, parish, order, community, etc. – contributed to the development of the Catholic Church and to the attainment of its final aim, i.e., the salvation of the individual soul? Or how has that bishop – priest, nun, order, parish – contributed to the fulfillment of my nation’s destiny? In early North America, the establishment and development of the Catholic Church involved on the one side the keeping of the faith among nominal Catholics, mainly of European origin, through a frustrating yet constant attempt to withdraw them from their state of sin
Instances of priestly misbehavior do not occur in the American West only, but – in a very transnational fashion – they appear throughout the United States and British North America, even in the province of Québec (Lower Canada from 1791), considered by contemporary Catholics as North America’s most accomplished church
Summary
In a very transnational fashion, priestly misbehavior is a constant feature in the primary sources dealing with the United States and British North America, including Québec, between 1763 and 1846. Instances of priestly misbehavior do not occur in the American West only, but – in a very transnational fashion – they appear throughout the United States and British North America, even in the province of Québec (Lower Canada from 1791), considered by contemporary Catholics as North America’s most accomplished church.
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