I. General

Catholic Action is a general term denoting the corporate involvement of Catholic laity in the church and the world. In the context of 19th-century liberation movements, there emerged various Catholic associations, largely independent of the hierarchical structure of the church, that made the voice of Catholics heard on social and political questions – for example Americanism in the USA, the Sillon in France, the Christian Democrats in Italy, the Kolping Society (Kolp…