Posted March 25, 2019

The American Catholic Historical Society’s annual Spring Lecture will be held Tuesday, April 9 with Dr. Mary Ellen O’Donnell speaking on her new book, “Ingrained Habits: Growing Up Catholic in Mid-20th Century America” (CUA Press, 2018).

She will discuss how, for Catholics growing up in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, the church and its faith determined most of everyday life.

Through a discussion of autobiographical and fictional work depicting that time, she calls attention to the importance of the overlapping and intimate worlds of parish, family and neighborhood as experienced by Catholics of the era.

O’Donnell, who earned her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, is an independent scholar living in Devon. She grew up in Scranton and has taught courses on Catholicism, religion and spiritual life at Mercyhurst University, St. Joseph’s University, West Chester University and Chestnut Hill College.

At the Spring Lecture, social hour begins at 5 p.m., dinner is at 6, the lecture begins at 7 and the program ends at 8:30. RSVP and registration are required. $15 for members; $25 for non-members.

See the American Catholic Historical Society’s website for more details.

The event will be held at the society’s house at 263 South Fourth Street in Old City, Philadelphia.