ABSTRACT
The Australia, Canada, Unites States presents three very different stories of Catholic incorporation at the highest levels of government in the early twentieth century. Presidential and prime ministerial politics, subject as they are to the vagaries of personalities and events, may not be adequate representations of the general state of Catholics in each country. Yet the basic story presented at the time of the Great Depression – mixed incorporation in the United States, fuller incorporation in Australia, and stalled incorporation in Canada – applies as a basic difference between the three countries when one looks at other indicators of Catholic incorporation, including appointed and elected officials at lower levels of government. This chapter assesses, variety of explanations, including assimilation, power resources, coalitions, and institutions. The broad patterns cited in the chapter are reinforced by a more in-depth look at how the different trajectories of incorporation led to different policies, institutions, and identities, transforming each country's democratic, class, and religious orders.
