Counterclericalism: Vernacular commentary on the power of the catholic priest in atlantic Canada

McDavid, Sara Jodi (2012) Counterclericalism: Vernacular commentary on the power of the catholic priest in atlantic Canada. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the role of priests in Atlantic Canada (focusing on Newfoundland, Cape Breton and New Brunswick), drawing on legend, personal experience narrative, and popular culture as presented in oral tradition, archival sources and popular fiction. -- Using the discipline of folklore, but with an awareness of the contributions of history and anthropology, it explores both positive and negative depictions of the priest's role as religious and cultural leader, community icon, hero and villain. The thesis argues that these complex folkloric representations express a nuanced "counterclericalism" that extends the concept of "anticlericalism" as developed by anthropologists and historians, and that communally accepted counterclerical narratives create a venue for discourse on the nature of power in general. -- I propose that the term counterclericalism is better suited to the folkloristic study of vernacular expressions of criticism of clergy, suggesting that the term "anticlericalism" be reserved for other uses.

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