Scope: This optional course will examine the beginnings of the Catholic Church in North America (Canada, present-day USA, and Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean Sea). The emphasis will be on the mission enterprises of the kingdoms of France and Spain from the outset, and will conclude with the beginnings of the immigrant nationalities near the time of independence for many of these areas.

  Content: Areas of particular interest will include “the period of first encounter” and its religious and anthropological significance; the formation of “mestizo” cultures and their influence on the development of the local church in colonial North America; finally, the confrontations and disruptions caused by revolutions and independence as well as the influx of new immigrant groups by the mid-nineteenth century.

  Method: Depending on our numbers, we will begin each week with my introductory outline/lecture in the first hour of each meeting, and the second hour will be for a presentation on a primary source document by two students each week. Each student would take a different aspect of the document.

  Method of evaluation of learning: Either from one of these presentations, or at your own choice, there will be two written assignments: A book review (3-5 pp.) that assists with the presentation of an interpretation of one of the themes presented; and the final paper (10-20 pp.) either developing one of the themes presented, or addressing another question arising from the course. The final grade will reflect, more or less equally, class participation/presentations and the two written works.