Happy Independence Day! First, Salzmann Library will be closed July 4-6 for the Independence Day holiday weekend. We will reopen again at our normal time of noon on Tuesday, July 9th. This week I want to focus on the Catholic church and American history, including a few of the books we have on the subject.

Often lost in the shuffle of American history, and church history, is the history of the Catholic church in America. There is an obvious a long history of the Catholic church, and much of it gets glossed over.  But what the Catholic church inspired and did in the United States helped shape who we are today. If you want to learn more, here are several books that could help:

“Catholics in America: A History,” by Patrick Carey; Praeger Press: Westport, CT, 2004

“Communion of Immigrants: A History of Catholics in America,” by James Fisher; Oxford University Press: New York, 2002

“Roman Catholicism in America,by Chester Gillis; Columbia University Press: New York, 1999

“American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America’s Most Powerful Church,” by Charles Morris; Random House: 1997

On CD, we also have available:

“The Story of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States,” talks by R. Scott Appleby; Now You Know Media, 2008

I hope everybody has a great 4th of July weekend.

As always, if you have any ideas and comments for things I could change, please let me know. If you have any books that you have read or have read the books I mention, please leave a comment. We here at Salzmann also want to know what people are reading. Comments are always appreciated – anything I can do to make this better I will strive my best to accomplish.

Here is some basic information about the library:

• Our standard hours are Tuesdays, Thursdays, 12 to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Our address is 3257 S. Lake Dr., St. Francis, WI 53235, right next to Henni Hall, due west of the South Parking Lot.
• The library’s phone number is (414) 747-6479. If you would like to contact me through email, it is mschrauth@sfs.edu.
• There is free Wi-Fi available.
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• The library catalog is available online.